BJ  1661  . S74  1923 
Stearns,  Alfred  Ernest, 

The  challenge  of  youth 


187 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


The  pure,  the  bright,  the  beautiful, 

That  stirr ’d  our  hearts  in  youth, 

The  impulse  to  a  wordless  prayer, 

The  dreams  of  love  and  truth, 

The  longings  after  something  lost, 

The  spirit’s  yearning  cry, 

The  strivings  after  better  hopes, — 

These  things  can  never  die. 

— All  the  Year  Bound — “  Imperishable. 


The  Challenge  of 
Youth 


B  yj 

ALFRED  E.  STEARNS 

Principal  of  Phillips- Andover  Academy 


W.  A.  WILDE  COMPANY 


BOSTON 


CHICAGO 


Copyrighted,  1923, 

By  W.  A.  Wilde  Company 

All  rights  reserved 

The  Challenge  of  Youth 


Made  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


To  the  Old  Boys,— My 
Constant  Teachers 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/challengeofyouthOOstea 


INTRODUCTION 


YOUTH  is  always  interesting.  No  subject, 
commonly  discussed,  commands  wider  or 
keener  attention.  And  this  is  natural;  and  for 
several  reasons. 

We  have  all  of  us  been  young  ourselves  and, 
however  much  we  may  strive  to  conceal  it,  the 
pictures  that  memory  paints  of  the  days  of  our 
boyhood  and  girlhood  are  gripping  and  alluring, 
and  generally  the  happiest  we  know.  To  enter 
fully  into  the  spirit  of  youth,  to  grapple  once 
more  with  its  problems,  to  share  in  its  hopes,  its 
aspirations,  and  even  its  disappointments, — all 
this  brings  a  thrill  of  its  own  and  lays  hold  on 
our  hearts.  The  feeling  is  hard  to  define.  But 
it  is  there  and  it  is  very  real. 

Again ;  most  of  us  of  an  older  generation  have 
children  of  our  own  or,  at  least,  a  deep  interest  in 

the  children  of  our  friends.  Their  problems  are 

5 


6 


INTRODUCTION 


constantly  in  our  thoughts.  Their  future  is  very 
vital  to  us.  In  the  new  and  somewhat  changed 
conditions  under  which  youth  is  forced  to  fight 
its  upward  way  we  are  a  bit  perplexed  as  to  the 
part  which  we  should  play.  The  old  standards 
do  not  seem  to  fit.  The  old  rules  will  not  always 
hold.  Many  of  the  most  helpful  agencies  of 
former  days  have  been  swept  away.  We  need 
help ;  and  we  turn  eagerly  to  any  who  by  experi¬ 
ence  or  position  seem  likely  to  offer  any  helpful 
clue  to  the  solution  of  our  baffling  problem. 

And  finally,  we  have  heavy  stakes  in  this 
younger  generation  so  soon  to  take  our  places  on 
life’s  great  stage.  We  are  all  building  for  the 
future.  Our  tasks  will  never  be  completed  as 
we  would  wish  to  have  them.  Others  must  carry 
on  our  work  and  carry  it  to  the  higher  levels  our 
vision  has  pictured  for  it.  And  these  others  are 
the  youth  of  the  present  day.  No  wonder  then 
that  these  boys  and  girls  are  of  such  tremendous 
interest  to  us  all. 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


If  youth  has  always  been  interesting  to  its 
elders  it  is  doubly  so  to-day.  Youth  has  been 
acting  of  late  in  ways  that  are  strange  and  hard 
for  us  to  comprehend.  These  actions  have  dis¬ 
tressed  and  annoyed ;  and  we  have  been  free  with 
our  criticisms  and  complaints.  But  our  criticisms 
have  seldom  been  constructive  and  our  com¬ 
plaints  have  not  always  been  fair.  And  youth, 
responding  normally  to  the  conditions  with  which 
it  finds  itself  surrounded,  as  youth  has  always 
done,  has  sensed  the  injustice  of  our  self-right¬ 
eous  attitude,  has  resented  our  interference,  and 
has  left  us  more  helpless  than  before.  For  youth 
did  not  create  these  conditions.  Youth  found 
them  ready-made.  The  responsibility  for  their 
existence  rests  squarely  upon  us  of  older  and 
supposedly  wiser  years. 

The  seeming  blindness  of  the  older  generation 
to  this  responsibility  is  hard  to  understand.  Yet 
that  responsibility  is  clear  and  grave  and  easily 
sensed  by  those  who  will  pause  and  ponder. 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


The  excitement  and  selfishness  of  a  materialistic 
age  have  rendered  us  indifferent  to  the  needs  of 
and  our  duties  to  others.  The  awakening  must 
come  soon  or  it  will  come  too  late.  Conditions 
which  threaten  the  welfare  of  society  and  the 
stability  of  the  nation  will  not  be  altered  by  our 
petulant  protests ;  they  can  and  must  be  changed 
bv  earnest  and  unselfish  effort.  For  the  sake  of 
the  fathers,  the  mothers,  and  the  citizens  of  to¬ 
morrow  the  obligation  which  is  plainly  ours  must 
be  assumed,  and  now. 

A  fairly  long  and  intimate  contact  with  youth 

is  my  excuse  for  attempting  to  point  out  in  this 

volume  wherein  we  have  erred  in  our  dealings 

with  our  boys  and  girls  and  the  course  we  are 

bound  to  pursue  if  we  are  sincere  in  our  desire 

to  aid  them  in  attaining  manhood  and  womanhood 

that  shall  be  strong  and  self-controlled  and  that 

shall  enable  them  in  the  years  just  ahead  to  carry 

on  successfullv  our  unfinished  tasks.  Youth  has 

«/ 

far  more  at  stake  than  we  have;  and  youth  will 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


not  knowingly  hurl  itself  to  destruction.  Youth 
asks  for  a  fair  field  and  a  fair  chance.  That 
much,  at  least,  it  is  our  duty  and  our  privilege  to 
supply. 


CONTENTS 
PAET  ONE 

The  Dual  Nature  of  Youth  13 

PAET  TWO 

The  Home  in  Civilization  29 

PAET  THEEE 

Eeligion  in  Civilization  65 

PAET  FOUE 

Modern  Substitutes — The  Movies,  The 


Stage,  and  Literature  91 

PAET  FIVE 

Modern  Substitutes— Social  Conditions  -  103 

PAET  SIX 

Discipline  Versus  Selfishness  -  -  125 

PAET  SEVEN 

Conclusion  -------  153 

11 


PART  ONE 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH 


*  ‘  This  truth  within  thy  mind  rehearse, 

That  in  a  boundless  universe 
Is  boundless  better,  boundless  worse.’ ’ 

— Tennyson  “The  Two  Voices.” 


PART  ONE 

THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH 


IT  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  understand  or 
to  deal  intelligently  with  the  problems  of 
our  boys  and  girls  without  holding  clearly  in 
mind  the  dual  nature  of  youth.  Those  of  us  of 
an  older  generation  are  apt  to  forget  the  conflicts 
of  our  younger  days,  the  warring  elements  within 
that  waged  ceaseless  and  strenuous  battle  for 
mastery.  The  schoolmaster  and  the  teacher,  how¬ 
ever,  who  deal  year  after  year  with  the  younger 
generation,  cannot  possibly  forget.  Day  by  day 
and  hour  by  hour  they  witness  in  the  lives  and 
actions  of  those  about  them  the  scenes  and  strug¬ 
gles  of  their  own  childhood.  Reminded  con¬ 
stantly  in  this  way  of  the  problems  of  their  own 
youth,  they  are  enabled  to  enter  with  keener  ap¬ 
preciation  into  the  problems  of  those  with  whom 

15 


16 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


they  deal.  With  the  memory  of  their  own  ex¬ 
periences  ever  vividly  before  them,  the  advice  and 
suggestions  which  they  are  able  to  offer  have  at 
least  the  merit  of  being  based  on  intelligence 
rather  than  theory. 

Youth  is  definitely  the  period  of  vision.  The 
old  Hebrew  prophet  who  wrote,  “  Your  young 
men  shall  see  visions  and  your  old  men  shall 
dream  dreams  5 5  uttered  an  eternal  truth.  And 
the  dreams  of  old  age  bring  their  satisfactions  or 
regrets  just  in  so  far  as  those  spiritual  visions  of 
vouth  have  been  realized  or  not  in  the  maturer 
vears  of  manhood. 

At  the  opening  of  a  school  year  a  father  pre¬ 
sented  himself  with  his  son.  He  was  an  excep¬ 
tionally  able  and  successful  lawyer  from  a  western 
city,  and  at  the  time  was  serving  as  attorney  for 
one  of  the  great  transcontinental  railway  systems. 
At  the  first  morning  chapel  service  of  the  term 
he  had  taken  a  seat  in  the  visitors’  gallery.  As  I 
was  leaving  the  pulpit  at  the  close  of  the  brief 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH  17 


religious  exercise  I  noticed  the  man  making  his 
way  up  the  aisle.  He  came  forward  and  ex¬ 
tended  his  hand.  To  my  surprise  I  noted  very 
evident  traces  of  tears  on  his  face.  Something 
had  clearly  moved  him  deeply.  He  spoke  with 
very  genuine  emotion.  “  Mr.  Stearns,”  he  said, 
“  you  can  see  that  I  have  been  making  something 
of  a  fool  of  myself  this  morning.  But  I  am  not 
sorry,”  he  added  quickly.  “  The  fact  is,”  he  con¬ 
tinued,  “  I  have  had  one  of  the  great  experiences 
of  my  life  this  morning,  and  I  want  to  tell  you 
about  it.  I’m  not  much  on  this  church  business; 
in  fact,  I  don’t  think  I  have  been  inside  a  church 
for  many  years,  though  I  was  brought  up  in  an 
old-fashioned  Christian  New  England  home  and 
know  better.  But  when  I  sat  in  the  gallery  this 
morning,  and  saw  those  five  hundred  heads  bow 
as  one  man  at  the  beginning  of  your  prayer, 
something  gripped  me  inside  and  I  cried  like  a 
babv.  And  I’m  not  ashamed  of  it  either,”  he 
went  on;  “  that  experience  has  been  a  great  lesson 


18  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

to  me,  and  I  am  not  going  to  forget  it.  Here¬ 
after,  while  my  boy  remains  in  school,  I  mean  to 
get  to  every  chapel  exercise  I  can  possibly  at¬ 
tend.” 

He  was  true  to  his  word,  and  for  the  next  three 
years  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  him  in 
the  chapel  gallery  at  the  morning  exercise.  And 
always  he  would  greet  me  at  its  close  with  the 
same  warm  expression  of  appreciation  of  what 
that  earlier  experience  had  meant  in  his  life.  Oc¬ 
casionally  he  would  telegraph  me  from  his  west¬ 
ern  home,  and  in  some  such  words  as  these: 
“  Have  an  important  law  case  in  New  York  next 
week;  will  be  at  chapel  Saturday  morning.” 
And  when  Saturday  morning  came  he  would  be 
on  hand  as  agreed. 

Two  graduates  of  the  school  had  returned  to 
attend  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  celebration 
of  their  class.  Both  had  attained  positions  of 
unusual  prominence  in  business  and  professional 
life.  One  was  known  to  be  worth  millions;  the 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH  19 


other  had  held  important  public  offices.  They 
had  devoted  an  afternoon  to  wandering  about  the 
countryside  and  revisiting  the  old  and  cherished 
scenes  of  schoolboy  days.  Towards  evening  they 
returned  to  the  campus  and  paused  for  a  few 
moments  under  the  shadows  of  the  familiar  elms. 
F or  some  time  neither  spoke.  At  length  the  suc¬ 
cessful  business  man  broke  the  silence.  “  Jim,” 
he  said  with  almost  resentful  impulsiveness,  “  we 
fellows  in  the  big  business  world  aren’t  living . 
We’re  not  really  living;  and  those  of  us  who  have 
had  school  days  like  ours  know  it.” 

What  was  it  that  brought  the  tears  to  the  eyes 
of  that  successful  lawyer  at  the  mere  sight  of  the 
bowed  heads  of  five  hundred  boys,  and  wrung 
from  a  prosperous  business  man,  as  the  memories 
of  school  days  crowded  fast  upon  him,  the  frank 
admission  that  in  spite  of  material  wealth  life  to 
him  had  been  in  a  very  real  sense  a  failure?  A 
schoolmaster  living  constantly  with  youth  can 
answer.  It  was  the  dreams  of  old  age  carrying 


20 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


memory  back  to  the  days  of  youth  and  vision, 
and  the  consciousness  that  those  high  and  spir¬ 
itual  visions  had  not  been  fully  realized  in  the 
later  years.  And  such  dreams,  when  once  awak¬ 
ened,  bring  always  only  bitter  regrets. 

“  Across  the  fields  of  yesterday 
He  sometimes  comes  to  me, 

A  little  lad  just  back  from  play — 

The  lad  I  used  to  be. 

“  And  yet  he  smiles  so  wistfully 
Once  he  has  crept  within, 

I  wonder  if  he  hopes  to  see 
The  man  I  might  have  been.” 

Prompted  by  such  visions  to  fight  for  the  at¬ 
tainment  of  a  high  goal,  youth  battles  ever  with 
the  physical  temptations  that  spring  from  within 
and  the  lure  of  a  material  and  pleasure-loving 
world  without.  Small  wonder  then  that  it  so 
often  fails.  All  credit  to  it  when  it  wins. 

The  Apostle  Paul,  always  a  boy  at  heart,  has 
expressed  for  all  ages  the  eternal  spirit  of  youth. 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH  21 


His  words  are  those  which  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciouslv  ever  spring  from  youthful  hearts: 
“  When  I  would  do  good  evil  is  present  with  me. 
The  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not,  and  the  evil 
which  I  would  not,  that  I  do.  I  delight  in  the 
law  of  God  after  the  inward  man;  but  I  see  an¬ 
other  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the 
law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity 

to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  mv  members.” 

«/ 

This  is  youth, — struggling,  aspiring,  yielding, 
overcoming, — succumbing  one  moment  to  the 
ruthless  attacks  of  physical  temptation,  answer¬ 
ing  the  next  the  clear  and  compelling  challenge 
of  spiritual  vision;  making  a  fool  of  himself  one 
day  and  a  man  of  himself  the  next;  stooping  un¬ 
expectedly  to  deeds  that  shame  him  and  win  our 
pity  and  contempt,  rising  again  to  heights  of 
spiritual  grandeur  that  the  rest  of  us  can  never 
hope  to  reach;  reacting  in  startling  and  yet  per- 

fectlv  normal  wavs  to  the  influences  which  for 
»  •/ 

the  moment  surround  him;  Arresting  from  the 


22  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

stern  and  inescapable  struggles  of  those  early 
years  whatever  character  is  later  to  be  his. 

All  of  us,  in  a  measure,  are  potential  “  Dr. 
Jekylls  ”  and  “  Mr.  Hydes/’  but  never  more  in¬ 
tensely  so  than  in  the  days  of  our  youth.  Almost 
every  day  of  a  schoolmaster’s  life  supplies  con¬ 
vincing  illustrations  of  this.  Let  me  give  a  re¬ 
cent  one  out  of  my  own  experience. 

A  moving-picture  house,  situated  in  close 
proximity  to  the  campus  of  Yale  University,  of¬ 
fered  as  a  special  attraction  a  film  based  upon  a 
book  of  that  modern  variety  which  has  gained 
such  wide  popularity  in  recent  years  because  of 
its  daring  and  its  willingness  to  cater  to  the 
weaker  side  of  human  nature  by  trampling  on 
the  decencies  of  life  and  flaunting  the  base  and 
abnormal  in  human  relationships.  With  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  nature  of  youth  and  its 
sensitiveness  to  the  lower  appeal,  the  manage¬ 
ment  had  widely  advertised  among  the  student 
body  the  film  in  question  and  its  special  features. 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH  23 


Boy-like,  the  students  had  responded  to  this  ap¬ 
peal.  They  had  flocked  in  large  numbers  to  wit¬ 
ness  the  film,  just  as  you  and  I  would  have  done 
in  the  days  of  our  youth  had  such  films  existed 
and  such  questionable  pastimes  attained  the  de¬ 
gree  of  respectability  that  they  now  enjoy. 

Among  the  boys  in  the  audience  this  Sunday 
afternoon  were  two  young  fellows,  well  known  to 
me,  for  they  had  been  members  of  my  school. 
They  had  slipped  into  gallery  seats  and  were 
quietly  watching  the  picture.  Suddenly  smoke 
was  seen  rising  on  the  stage.  The  cry  of  “  Fire  ” 
rang  through  the  theatre,  and  almost  at  the  same 
moment  flames  leaped  through  the  flimsy  scenery. 
In  sudden  panic  the  crowd  jumped  to  its  feet 
and  rushed  madlv  for  the  exits. 

At  the  first  cry  of  “  Fire  ”  the  two  young  fel¬ 
lows  in  the  gallery  had  made  a  hasty  flight  and 
stood  in  safety  on  the  landing  of  the  fire  escape 
just  outside  the  hall.  Here  for  a  moment  they 
paused.  They  glanced  back,  and  their  eyes  gazed 


24  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

on  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion  and  horror. 
The  crowd,  which  only  a  moment  before  had 
been  quietly  seated,  enjoying  to  the  full  the  pic¬ 
ture  as  it  was  unfolded  before  their  eyes,  had 
suddenly  been  transformed  into  a  frantic,  strug¬ 
gling  mob,  seeking  only  safety  and  life.  As  the 
boys  gazed  they  saw  helpless  women  borne  down 
before  the  onrushing  mob,  and  young  children 
trampled  under  foot,  in  some  cases,  to  their  death. 
For  only  a  second  those  boys  stood  there, 

stunned  bv  the  scene  which  met  their  eyes.  But 

*/ 

in  that  scene  came  the  challenge  to  their  spiritual 
natures,  the  real  manhood  within,  and  without  a 
moment’s  further  hesitation,  those  brave  fellows, 
who  only  a  few  minutes  before  had  yielded  to  the 
weaker  impulse,  turned  and  fought  their  way 
back  into  the  pit  of  death  from  which  they  had 
just  escaped.  Once  inside,  they  took  their  posi¬ 
tions  at  the  two  sides  of  the  fire-escape  door. 
With  almost  superhuman  strength  they  forced 
the  struggling  crowd  to  open  an  aisle  through 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH 


which  women  and  children  could  pass  to  safety. 
They  reached  down  and  picked  helpless  ones  from 
under  trampling  feet  and  passed  them  to  waiting 
hands  outside.  They  lifted  children  over  the 
heads  of  those  who  surrounded  them,  and  fairly 
tossed  them  to  other  boys  beyond  the  door. 

Finally,  some  of  those  who  had  been  denied 
exit  by  these  brave  youths  locked  arms  and  rushed 
them,  determined  to  force  their  way  out.  One  of 
the  boys  was  knocked  out  of  the  door  and  down 
the  fire  escape,  receiving  serious  injuries  which 
confined  him  for  some  time  to  the  hospital.  The 
other  managed  to  jump  aside  and  still  maintain 
his  position.  As  he  fought  on  heroically,  the 
flames  which  had  now  engulfed  the  entire  theatre, 
set  fire  to  his  clothes  and  singed  his  face  and 
hands.  At  last,  when  nothing  further  could  be 
done,  and  the  crowd  which  jammed  the  door¬ 
way  made  escape  through  that  exit  impossible, 
this  brave  lad  made  his  way  down  through  the 
auditorium  to  the  main  doorway  and  stumbled 


26 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


out  on  to  the  street,  still  conscious  but  hardly 
recognizable.  Eager  friends  rushed  him  to  the 
college  hospital  where  everything  humanly  pos¬ 
sible  was  done  to  save  his  life.  For  three  days  he 
lay  there  suffering  but  clear  in  mind.  Knowing 
that  death  hovered  only  a  few  hours  away,  he 
would  look  into  the  face  of  his  weeping  mother 
and  say  with  a  ring  of  triumph  in  his  voice, 
“  Don’t  cry,  Mother;  I  have  no  regrets.”  And 
then  he  would  add  with  evident  pride,  “  Anyway, 
Mother,  I  think  I  was  the  last  to  leave  the  theatre 
alive.” 

I  believe  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  an  in¬ 
cident  illustrating  so  clearly  as  does  this  one  the 
dual  nature  of  youth  and  its  delicate  sensitiveness 
to  the  particular  influences  and  conditions  with 
which,  for  the  moment,  it  chances  to  be  sur¬ 
rounded.  The  baser  appeal  had  had  its  innings, 
but  the  spiritual  appeal  following  so  closely  had 
won.  Those  boys,  in  their  superb  heroism,  had 
proved  the  eternal  truth  of  the  saying  of  the 


THE  DUAL  NATURE  OF  YOUTH  27 


Master  Himself,  “  He  who  loses  his  life  shall 
save  it  and  Allen  Keith,  in  those  last  moments 
of  heroic  sacrifice,  had  met  the  highest  test  of 
spiritual  manhood  and  Christian  discipleship. 
And  Allen  Keith  had  “  no  regrets.” 

It  is  these  constant  and  tremendous  contrasts 
that  make  youth  so  intensely  interesting.  And 
it  is  the  recognition  of  these  that  has  prompted 
Christian  civilization  to  render  freely  its  support 
and  encouragement  to  every  worthy  aim  and 
high  endeavor,  and  to  protect  and  restrain  to  the 
full  limit  of  its  power  when  weaker  and  baser 
impulses  assail  and  temptations  threaten  to  un¬ 
dermine  and  destroy.  It  has  framed  laws  to  aid 
in  holding  sinister  temptation  in  check.  It  has 
evolved  customs  and  traditions  that  have  sought 
to  make  evil  odious  and  virtue  sublime.  It  has 
thrown  its  protecting  mantle  about  youth  in  the 
days  of  instability  when  protection  is  needed.  It 
has  pointed  the  way  to  the  nobler  and  more  satis¬ 
fying  life  of  self-control,  when  the  challenging 


28  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

vision  of  that  higher  life  was  clear  but  the 
strength  to  attain  it  insufficient. 

Through  the  passing  centuries  civilization  has 
built  up  these  safeguards  and  supports.  Indeed, 
this  is  one  of  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  that 
civilization  we  call  Christian.  If  we  are  losing  or 
weakening  these  to-day,  we  must  needs  face  the 
future  with  apprehension. 

Remembering  always,  then,  this  dual  nature  of 
youth,  let  us  examine  the  agencies  which  civiliza¬ 
tion  has  developed  to  aid  in  this  eternal  fight  for 
virile  and  self-controlled  manhood  and  woman¬ 
hood.  Let  us  note,  too,  honestly  and  without 
prejudice,  the  extent  to  which  these  agencies  have 
been  weakened  or  swept  aside  during  recent 
years,  and  the  character  of  such  influences  as 
have  supplanted  them. 


PART  TWO 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


‘  ‘  Humanity,  at  present,  in  this  nation,  is  deteriorating. 
It  has  a  long  way  to  go,  but  once  really  under  way  it 
will  make  the  journey  at  a  speed  as  high  as  that  of  some 
of  the  details  of  the  modern  life  which  have  been  re¬ 
sponsible  for  the  downhill  tendency. 

“Roomier  houses,  better  discipline  for  children  in  them 
and  the  schools,  custodial  care  for  those  who  may 
through  parenthood  increase  the  number  of  unfit.  The 
world  should  have  great  conferences  on  these  matters. 
They  are  more  important  than  the  subjects  wrangled 
over  at  Versailles.’ ’ 

— Dr.  Max  G.  Schlapp ,  Criminologist. 


PART  TWO 

THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


OF  all  the  agencies  that  have  contributed 
to  the  upbuilding  of  western  civilization 
none  has  exercised  a  greater  or  more  steadying 
influence  than  has  the  home.  The  extent  of  that 
influence,  especially  in  our  American  life,  cannot 
be  exaggerated.  The  home  is  the  foundation  of 
it  all.  On  it  rests  whatever  is  of  value  or  per¬ 
manent  in  civic  and  economic  life. 

The  changes  that  have  come  over  the  Ameri¬ 
can  home  in  recent  years  are  plain  enough.  To 
one  who  recognizes  their  true  significance  they 
are  startling.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  discuss  them 
and  to  make  their  meaning  clear;  for,  after  all, 
the  home  is  not  merely  a  building  with  roof  and 
walls  in  which  the  family  resides,  but  rather  an 
atmosphere,  an  influence,  intangible  but  sacred 
and  very  real. 


81 


32 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


The  breakdown  of  our  American  home  life  has 
been  a  popular  theme  of  discussion  everywhere. 
But  I  doubt  whether  any  one  better  than  a 
schoolmaster  can  appreciate  the  extent  of  that 
breakdown  or  its  sinister  influence  on  the  plastic 
lives  of  to-morrow’s  citizens.  Yesterday’s  home 
was  a  home  of  moral  standards  and  spiritual 
ideals,  professed  at  least,  and  in  the  main  sup¬ 
ported.  Parents  ruled  supreme,  and  their  will, 
based  on  the  experience  of  the  passing  years,  was 
law  to  their  fortunate  children.  Service  was 
gladly  rendered  and  sacrifices  willingly  made, 
that  the  younger  generation  might  profit  in  the 
days  to  come.  Discipline,  without  which  vigor¬ 
ous  manhood  and  womanhood  are  impossible,  was 
freely  administered  when  the  occasion  required. 
Mindful  always  of  the  future  welfare  of  the 
younger  generation,  parents  did  not  hesitate  to 
face  the  momentary  frown  and  tear  and  to  esti¬ 
mate  them  at  their  true  worth. 

The  home  so  prominent  to-day  is  of  a  different 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


33 


type.  City  life,  with  its  hotels,  apartments,  and 
hats,  has  exerted  a  deadening  influence  upon  it; 
but  it  has  been  even  more  dangerously  under¬ 
mined  by  the  pronounced  change  in  the  attitude 
of  parents  themselves.  Parents  sometimes  re¬ 
side  in  the  modern  home  on  their  way  to  and  from 
the  pressing  duties  of  business  and  professional 
life  and  the  alluring  appeals  of  club  and  society; 
but  the  old  atmosphere  is  lacking;  the  service 
rendered  by  the  older  generation  is  largely  for 
self,  and  real  sacrifice  is  hard  to  find.  Whatever 
atmosphere  exists  is  chiefly  the  creation  of  the 
younger  generation,  which  rules  pretty  much  as 
it  wills.  We  must  search  altogether  too  far  for 
that  type  of  home  and  its  accompanying  environ¬ 
ment  which,  through  the  passing  years,  has  built 
up  all  that  is  best  and  finest  in  our  American 
life. 

Of  course,  the  home  has  always  been  and  must 
always  be  what  parents  make  it;  and  if  the 
younger  generation  is  now  in  control,  it  is  only 


34 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


because  parents  have  refused  to  accept  the  di¬ 
vinely  appointed  trust  that  is  properly  theirs. 

The  schoolmaster  who  deals  constantly  with 
modern  parents  of  varying  types  is  more  and 
more  impressed  with  the  inherent  values  that  ex¬ 
ist  in  youth.  The  wonder  is  that  youth  has  done 
so  well,  facing  so  often  a  heavy  handicap. 

Even  before  they  have  been  seen  parents  will 
pretty  clearly  identify  and  classify  themselves 
through  the  attitude  and  reactions  of  their  off¬ 
spring.  Careless  or  earnest,  ignorant  or  intelli¬ 
gent,  selfish  or  high-minded,  superficial  or  sane, 
erratic  or  balanced,  they  are  generally  revealed 
by  a  study  of  their  children.  Never,  perhaps,  is 
that  revelation  clearer  or  more  sudden  than  when 
trouble  arises  and  merited  discipline  threatens. 
Under  such  conditions  they  will  regularly  be 
found  to  belong  to  one  of  three  groups. 

First,  there  is  the  parent  who  unhesitatingly, 
and  with  every  force  at  command,  seeks  to  avert 
the  threatened  blow.  These  are  the  most  com- 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


35 


mon.  The  extremes  to  which  resort  is  made  un¬ 
der  such  conditions  would  be  only  ludicrous  if 
they  were  not  so  tragic.  Anything  to  save  the 
family  from  what  is  felt  to  be  disgrace.  Any¬ 
thing  to  protect  from  temporary  discomfort  the 
erring  child.  Parents  have  a  way  of  appearing 
at  headquarters  on  such  occasions,  though,  until 
the  blow  threatens,  the  schoolmaster  might  be¬ 
lieve  that  they  did  not  even  exist.  If  they  lack 
an  intellectual  and  cultural  background,  and 
have  obtained  unusual  and  perhaps  quick  success 
in  the  acquiring  of  material  wealth,  they  will 
sometimes  produce  a  lawyer,  whose  duty  it  evi¬ 
dently  is  to  create  an  impression  and  stage  an 
effect.  What  they  are  really  seeking  to  do  is  to 
prevent  that  one  thing  which  unstable  youth 
needs  more  than  anything  else  in  the  world,  and 
at  just  this  time,  if  weaknesses  are  to  be  over¬ 
come  and  self-reliant  manhood  achieved.  Herein 
lies  the  tragedy  of  it  all. 

Any  schoolmaster  can  relate  countless  incidents 


36  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

in  support  of  my  contention.  There  are  several 
which  always  stand  out  vividly  in  my  memory, 
and  that  will  serve  to  illustrate  my  point. 

A  few  years  ago  a  boy  was  dismissed  from 
school  for  a  flagrant  offence.  He  had  presented 
a  telegram  signed  by  his  mother,  in  which  it  was 
clearly  stated  that  his  father,  who  was  ill,  had 
been  ordered  South  by  his  doctor  for  his  health, 
that  he  must  see  the  boy  on  immediate  business 
before  leaving  home,  and  that  an  excuse  should 
consequently  be  secured  from  me  in  order  to 
make  the  visit  and  the  interview  possible.  The 
request  was  promptly  granted,  and  the  boy  left 
for  his  home.  He  returned  at  the  proper  time, 
made  known  his  presence,  and  the  matter  was 
dismissed  from  my  thoughts.  It  was  revived 
only  by  accident  a  month  or  two  later,  when  I 
had  occasion  to  write  the  father,  calling  attention 
to  the  boy’s  delinquencies  in  his  studies.  My  let' 
ter  brought  a  reply  from  Florida,  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  the  writer  had  been  in  Florida  since 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION  37 

October,  and  hence  had  had  no  chance  to  see  or 
discuss  matters  with  his  boy,  but  that  he  would 
return  in  the  early  spring.  He  promised  to  write 
and  use  his  influence  in  supporting  our  contention 
that  the  young  man  should  exert  himself  more 
earnestly  in  the  performance  of  his  school  duties, 
and  he  begged  us  to  use  our  best  influences  in  the 
meantime  to  prevent  disaster.  As  the  visit  home 
had  occurred  in  January,  it  was  evident  that 
there  was  something  wrong.  An  interview  with 
the  boy  promptly  brought  out  the  facts.  The 
telegram  had  actually  been  sent  by  the  mother, 
— it  had  even  been  carried  to  the  telegraph  office 
by  the  sister, — but,  instead  of  an  interview  with 
a  disabled  father,  the  real  purpose  of  the  visit  was 
a  coming-out  party  of  a  young  lady  in  whom  the 
bov  and  his  familv  were  except ionallv  interested. 
The  boy’s  dismissal  naturally  followed. 

No  acknowledgment  even  was  received  of  my 
letter  stating  what  had  occurred,  and  the  grounds 
for  the  school’s  action.  Late  in  the  following 


38 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


summer,  however,  the  indulgent  mother  suddenly 
awoke  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  her  boy 
would  not  be  able  to  gain  admission  to  his  chosen 
college  without  a  letter  of  honorable  dismissal 
from  his  last  school.  Not  daring  to  trust  her 
precious  errand  to  the  medium  of  a  letter,  and 
deeming  it  inadvisable  to  notify  me  in  advance  of 
the  intent  of  her  visit,  the  mother  made  three 
trips  to  Andover  before  she  was  successful  in 
finding  me  at  home  at  the  close  of  my  summer 
vacation.  I  shall  never  forget  the  interview. 
She  was  a  prominent  and  wealthy  society  woman 
in  one  of  our  large  eastern  cities.  She  swept  into 
my  house  one  evening  just  as  I  had  finished  my 
dinner.  One  glance  convinced  me  that  she  had 
prepared  herself  with  care,  both  outwardly  and 
inwardly,  for  an  important  occasion.  That  she 
was  a  wonderful  actress  was  early  apparent. 
Her  first  greeting,  however,  as  I  entered  the  room 
was  enough  to  put  me  on  my  guard. 

Gazing  rather  dramatically  into  my  eyes,  she 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


39 


exclaimed  with  fervor,  “  Now  that  I  have  looked 
into  your  eyes,  I  know  that  my  prayers  are  to  be 
answered/’  Being  somewhat  unaware  of  the  na¬ 
ture  of  those  prayers,  I  was  placed  in  an  em¬ 
barrassing  position;  but  I  was  not  long  kept  in 
ignorance. 

In  the  course  of  a  three-hour  interview  she 
proved  her  wonderful  dramatic  ability.  In  turn 
she  was  gushing,  friendly,  pious,  threatening,  and 
abusive.  She  had  only  one  purpose,  and  that 
was  to  secure  from  me  the  letter  which  would 
enable  her  son  to  enter  college.  With  mingled 
feelings  of  amusement,  apprehension,  and  sur¬ 
prise,  I  watched  and  listened,  interjecting  as  I 
could  such  sentiments  as  I  thought  the  occasion 
required.  Finally,  I  felt  it  necessary  to  bring 
matters  to  a  head. 

“  Madam,”  I  said  with  feeling,  “  please  don’t 
let  me  misunderstand  you  or  misinterpret  your 
position.  Do  you  really  mean  that  you  wish  me 
to  go  to  the  desk  yonder  and  write  a  letter  which 


40 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


will  enable  your  boy  to  enter  college  when  you 
know  and  I  know  and  he  knows  that  every  word 
of  that  letter  is  a  deliberate  lie?  ” 

She  drew  herself  up  with  great  dignity,  and 
with  scathing  sarcasm  replied,  “  I  suppose  then 
that  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  only  perfect 
man.” 

I  assured  her  promptly  and  with  vigor  that  I 
made  no  claims  to  that  distinction,  that  my  record 
was  full  of  flaws,  but  that  she  was  asking  of  me 
the  impossible,  and  that  it  was  useless  for  us  to 
argue  the  point  further. 

With  a  still  greater  and  more  tragic  show  of 
injured  dignity,  she  rose  from  her  seat,  and,  with 
sweeping  irony,  launched  her  last  attack.  (It 
should  be  noted  that  the  incident  occurred  at  the 
time  a  former  occupant  of  the  White  House  was 
somewhat  in  the  lime-light.) 

“  Do  you  know,”  she  said  with  chilling  em¬ 
phasis,  “  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  you  was  out 
on  the  football  field  last  fall.  My  son  pointed 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


41 


you  out  to  me  as  you  crossed  the  field.  I  re¬ 
marked  to  him  then  that  you  reminded  me  of 
President  Wilson.”  She  paused  a  moment  to 
allow  this  thrust  to  sink  home.  “  But,”  she  added 
with  biting  sarcasm,  “  I  never  supposed  I  should 
live  to  see  the  day  when  I  would  discover  that 

you  were  like  Mr.  Wilson.” 

•/ 

To  this  day  I  am  wondering  whether  the  good 
lady  was  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat. 

Needless  to  say,  the  boy  involved,  facing  in 
life’s  struggle  such  an  unfair  handicap  as  this, 
had  not  a  fighting  chance  for  manhood,  save  by 
the  interference  of  Providence.  A  boy  under 
these  conditions  can  scarcely  hope  for  anything 
better  than  the  life  of  a  human  derelict. 

I  recall  another  and  very  similar  experience. 
An  irate  father  whose  son  had  been  dismissed  for 
misusing  an  excuse  granted  him  to  visit  a  sup¬ 
posedly  dying  grandmother,  and  who  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  unexpected  postponement  of 
this  event  to  attend  an  intercollegiate  football 


42 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


match,  stood  in  my  office  attended  by  a  support¬ 
ing  lawyer.  At  the  close  of  a  strenuous  and 
stormy  interview,  he  leaned  over  my  desk,  shook 
his  fist  in  my  face,  and  fairly  hissed,  “  G — 
d — n  you,  I’ll  get  you  yet.” 

This  incident  has  always  had  a  peculiar  interest 
for  me  because  of  later  developments.  It  was 
not  many  months  after  this  that  the  erring  boy, 
who  possessed  qualities  which  would  unquestion¬ 
ably  have  made  a  worth-while  man  of  him  had 
they  been  given  reasonable  chances  for  develop¬ 
ment,  was  asked  by  his  own  mates  in  college  to 
withdraw  for  violation  of  regulations  established 
by  the  undergraduates  themselves. 

Parents  will  even  go  to  further  extremes  than 
those  mentioned  above  in  their  blind  desire  to 
ignore  patent  facts  and  conceal  truths  which  are 
unpleasant  to  them. 

A  student  was  dismissed  from  school  for  leav¬ 
ing  his  room  without  permission  during  the  late 
evening  hours.  He  had  heard  that  his  house- 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


43 


master  had  been  called  out  of  town,  and  he  had 
decided  to  make  a  night  of  it  himself.  An  excuse 
to  visit  the  library  from  eight  to  ten  in  the  even¬ 
ing  had  regularly  been  granted  him  earlier  in  the 
day.  Returning  to  his  room  before  the  time  had 
expired,  he  had  made  his  plans  and  taken  his 
departure.  The  instructor,  coming  in  a  little 
later,  noticed  a  paper  on  the  boy’s  door  and  ex¬ 
amined  it.  It  was  a  note  signed  by  the  occupant 
of  the  room  and  read  as  follows:  44  Returned  at 
9:55;  have  gone  to  bed.”  The  instructor  pulled 
out  his  watch.  It  was  then  9:30.  The  discrep¬ 
ancy  was  a  bit  surprising  and  disconcerting. 
Further  examination  revealed  the  absence  of  the 
boy,  and  the  presence  in  his  bed  of  a  hastily  con¬ 
structed  dummy.  The  house-master’s  long  vigil 
was  rewarded  in  the  early  morning  hours  when 
he  saw  the  figure  of  the  boy  emerging  from  the 
shadows  and  watched  it  disappear  through  the 
window  of  a  ground-floor  room.  The  boy  was 
promptly  dismissed.  The  letter  relating  the  facts 


44 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


to  the  father  brought  forth  a  somewhat  unusual 
and  instructive  reply.  Here  it  is: 

“  In  regard  to  his  leaving  his  room  during  the  study 
hours,  it  was  a  minor  offence,  but,  of  course,  deserving 
of  punishment ;  but  on  the  note  on  his  door  is  where 
you  make  your  mistake.  You,  like  all  professors,  judge 
boys  by  outward  appearances,  without  knowing  any¬ 
thing  of  the  inner  boy  himself.  He  is  undoubtedly 
heedless,  careless,  and  thoughtless,  and  it  never  entered 
his  head  that  he  was  writing  a  lie  until  you  told  him  of 
it.” 

And  then  adds  the  father  rather  naively: 

“  He  has  never  told  me  a  lie  in  his  sixteen  years  of 
life.” 

How  could  he? 

The  unfortunate  element  in  situations  like 
these  is  the  impression  that  they  leave  on  youth¬ 
ful  minds.  But  the  essential  thing  after  all  is  the 
attempt  to  ward  off  just  punishment  when  pun¬ 
ishment  is  the  only  possible  thing  that  can  cor¬ 
rect.  Not  only  is  the  value  of  merited  discipline, 
so  often  the  deciding  factor  in  moulding  waver- 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


45 


ing  youth  into  stable  manhood,  denied,  but  the 
real  evils  of  wrongdoing  are  forever  concealed, 
and  the  youngster  faces  life  with  no  clear  sense  of 
values  and  too  many  times  handicapped  beyond 
redemption. 

Then  there  are  the  parents  who  cannot  agree. 
Differences  in  opinions,  methods,  and  policies 
have  ever  prevailed;  peace  and  concord  have 
never  shown  their  heads,  and  the  development  of 
rugged  character  is  impossible.  Such  conditions 
breed  restlessness  and  deceit,  for  in  nature’s  own 
wav  from  the  da  vs  of  infancy  the  child  seems  to 
sense  the  character  of  the  atmosphere  about  him, 
and,  with  almost  devilish  instinct,  plays  these  par¬ 
ents  one  against  the  other;  and  sad  to  say  he 
a  1  wavs  wins. 

In  one  year  of  my  experience  three  boys  de¬ 
liberately  ran  away  from  school.  The  incidents 
were  unusual.  They  set  me  thinking.  It  hap- 
pended  that  one  of  the  offenders  was  a  son  of  an 
extremely  wealthy  man.  The  father  claimed 

V  %■ 


46 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


with  a  good  deal  of  feeling  that  the  boy  would 

never  have  done  this  foolish  thing  if  it  had  not 

been  for  the  father’s  prominence  in  the  financial 

and  social  world,  the  craving  for  notoriety  which 

would  be  thus  satisfied,  and  the  conviction  that 

the  father  in  the  end  would  assuredlv  interfere 

• / 

and  restore  the  old  connection.  In  this  case  I 
happened  to  know  the  facts,  and  I  knew  that  the 
father  was  wrong.  Indeed,  my  sympathy  was  all 
with  the  boy,  as  it  has  been  ever  since. 

This  knowledge  prompted  an  investigation  of 
the  home  conditions  involved  in  the  other  two 
cases.  The  results  were  illuminating.  In  all  three 
cases  parental  disagreement  was  manifiest.  In  the 
first  case  mentioned  there  had  been  recent  and 
open  divorce;  in  the  other  two,  separations.  In 
all  cases  the  boys  had  been  denied  what  every 
child  born  in  a  Christian  civilization  has  a  right 
to  demand — a  home  and  all  that  a  home  in  its 
truest  sense  signifies.  Between  warring  parents 
these  youngsters  had  been  mere  shuttlecocks, 


THE  HOME  IX  CIVILIZATION 


47 


human  playthings  as  it  were,  shunted  first  to  the 
influence  of  one,  then  to  the  other,  according  to 
the  dictates  of  the  law  and  the  whims  of  their 
parents.  It  was  interesting  to  note  also  that 
they  represented  all  classes  of  the  social  scale; 
for,  in  addition  to  the  boy  whose  family  boasted 
untold  wealth  and  social  position,  there  was  the 
boy  from  the  family  of  moderate  means,  and  the 
boy  who,  without  any  help  from  home,  was  at  the 
time  working  his  way  through  school. 

These  cases  may  seem  a  bit  extreme,  but  they 
only  serve  to  emphasize  the  unchanging  truth 
that  where  discord  between  parents  prevails,  the 
greater  the  disagreements  the  smaller  the  chance 
for  the  innocent  victims  of  parental  war. 

Sometimes  the  tragedy  of  such  situations  is  for 
the  moment  concealed  bv  the  comic  element  which 
is  almost  always  present.  The  schoolmaster  who 
deals  with  parents  is  bound  to  develop,  if  he  did 
not  possess  it  originally,  a  sense  of  humor.  If 
this  were  not  so,  the  strain  would  perhaps  be  too 


48 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


great  for  human  nature  to  bear,  for  where  the 
average  individual  deals  intimately  with  a  score 
or  less  of  parents  the  schoolmaster  deals  with 
hundreds. 

A  schoolmaster  friend  of  mine  relates  an  inci¬ 
dent  which  illustrates  my  point.  Here  again  a 
boy  had  failed  to  meet  his  school  responsibilities, 
and  had  been  asked  to  withdraw.  As  usual  the 
parents  appeared  and  the  customary  battle  be¬ 
gan.  As  not  infrequently  happens,  the  mother 
was  the  aggressor,  but  the  father,  who  sat  quietly 
by,  apparently  accustomed  to  preserve  his  silence 
when  his  wife  had  once  taken  the  floor,  gave  clear 
evidence  of  his  determination  to  support  his 
spouse  in  her  claims,  and  at  any  cost.  The  head¬ 
master,  long  accustomed  to  conflicts  of  this  kind, 
had  decided  that  he  could  deal  with  the  mother, 
but  he  was  a  bit  puzzled  and  troubled  as  he  noted 
the  threatening  silence  of  her  husband.  He 
watched  him  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye  as  the 
battle  progressed,  and  with  increasing  feelings  of 


THE  HOHE  IN  CIVILIZATION 


49 


apprehension.  That  he  would  enter  the  struggle 
in  time  seemed  apparent,  but  how  and  when  was 
the  puzzling  question. 

The  facts  in  the  case  were  carefully  reviewed, 
the  headmaster  insisting  that  there  was  nothing 
really  vicious  about  the  boy,  and  that  only  his 
failure  to  conform  to  the  regular  school  require¬ 
ments,  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  place  and  to  do 
the  work  assigned  him,  had  led  to  his  failure  and 
downfall. 

But  the  mother  was  unconvinced.  “  I  know,” 
she  said  emphatically,  “  that  there  is  something 
more  back  of  this,  and  what  that  is  I  demand  to 
be  told.”  The  father  nodded  approval,  and  the 
headmaster  watched. 

“  I  assure  you,  madam,”  he  replied,  “  there  is 
nothing  more  involved  than  that  which  I  have 
already  told  you.”  But  the  woman  was  stub¬ 
born.  Finally  she  launched  a  telling  blow. 

“If  that  is  the  case,”  she  said  imperiously, 
“  why  was  my  boy  denied  admission  to  another 


50 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


school?”  She  mentioned  the  school  by  name. 
“  The  headmaster,”  she  added,  “  assured  me  that 
he  couldn’t  accept  my  boy  because  of  something 
that  you  had  written  him.” 

This  was  something  of  a  poser,  but  the  head¬ 
master  did  not  propose  to  yield.  “  I  don’t  recall 
just  what  I  wrote,”  he  said  smilingly,  “  but  I  can 
assure  you  that  I  said  nothing  more  than  I  have 
said  to-day.  Indeed,  I  am  perfectly  willing  that 
you  should  see  a  copy  of  the  letter  itself.” 

“  I  demand  to  see  it,”  she  exclaimed  with  some 
heat. 

The  headmaster  started  for  his  files,  gazing  ap¬ 
prehensively  at  the  silent  partner  near  by.  He 
drew  forth  the  letter  and  began  to  read  it.  It 
started  smoothly  and  his  spirits  were  rising,  but, 
as  he  drew  near  the  close,  his  eye  caught  sight  of 
a  short  paragraph  at  the  very  end  and  his  heart 
sank.  To  omit  this  paragraph  now  would  in¬ 
volve  him  in  trouble,  for  the  letter  did  not  end 
just  right  without  it.  There  was  nothing  to  do 


THE  HOME  IX  CIVILIZATIOX 


51 


but  finish  the  task  and  face  the  storm.  With  one 
more  glance  at  the  silent  father,  he  plunged 
bravely  in.  And  this  is  what  he  read:  “  The  boy, 
as  I  have  told  you,  is  not  bad,  but  the  real  trouble 
is  that  he  has  been  badly  spoiled  by  his  mother.” 

The  expected  explosion  immediately  followed. 
It  came  from  the  father,  but  it  was  not  of  the 
kind  anticipated.  Almost  leaping  from  his  chair, 
he  brought  his  hand  down  on  his  knee  with  a 
whack  and  fairly  bellowed:  “  God,  I’m  glad  I 
came!  And  that  isn’t  the  worst  of  it,”  he  added. 
“  I  have  two  daughters  at  home,  and  she  has 
ruined  them  too.”  For  the  rest  of  the  visit  the 
father,  who  had  apparently  for  the  first  time  in 
years  found  a  supporting  friend,  almost  had  his 
arms  around  the  headmaster’s  neck.  They  parted 
with  affectionate  terms  of  friendship  and  esteem. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  types  of  parents 
which  have  been  mentioned,  it  is  refreshing  to 
turn  to  those  of  another  kind,  and  it  is  good  to 
know  that  such  still  exist,  even  though  they  are 


52 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


so  sadly  outnumbered  by  their  more  noisy  and 
belligerent  friends.  Nothing  is  more  stimulating 
and  refreshing  to  a  headmaster’s  soul  than  to 
meet  in  the  course  of  his  work,  and  especially 
where  discipline  is  involved,  the  quiet,  sane,  and 
supporting  parents  who  have  not  forgotten  the 
days  of  their  own  youth;  who  realize  that  their 
children  will  make  mistakes  and  stumble  and 
yield;  who  are  aware  that  they  themselves  were 
guilty  of  such  lapses;  but  who  know,  too,  that 
whatever  strength  and  self-control  they  have  se¬ 
cured  for  the  later  and  maturer  years  have  been 
gained  through  the  just  punishment  and  stern 
discipline  which  their  offences  brought  upon 
them.  Facing  parents  of  this  type,  the  school¬ 
master  has  little  concern  for  the  nature  of  the 
offence  of  the  erring  son.  He  knows  that  just 
as  sure  as  the  sun  rises  and  sets  that  boy  will  in 
the  end  make  good ;  the  seriousness  of  his  offence 
will  be  brought  home  to  him,  the  justice  of  the 
punishment  will  be  emphasized,  and  faith  and 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION  53 

sanity  will  bring  their  ultimate  and  deserved  re¬ 
ward. 

Years  of  experience  have  driven  home  to  me 
the  truth  of  this  contention  more  strongly  than 
perhaps  anything  else  in  my  experience.  Less 
and  less  do  I  care  for  the  immediate  offence  and 
its  nature;  more  and  more  do  I  watch  with  ap¬ 
prehension  and  concern  the  reaction  of  the  boy 
and  his  parents  to  the  punishment  imposed. 

After  not  quite  thirty  years  of  intimate  deal¬ 
ings  with  boys,  I  have  reached  the  point  where, 
among  the  thousands  of  boys  I  have  been  privi¬ 
leged  to  meet,  it  is  possible  to  test  the  truth  or 
falsitv  of  many  of  my  theories;  for  manv  of  these 
boys  are  men  now,  and  the  effects  of  those  earlier 
experiences  are  indelibly  stamped  on  their  lives 
and  characters.  Among  those  whom  I  am  glad¬ 
dest  to  meet,  and  who  most  frequently  welcome 
me  with  sincerest  expressions  of  friendship  and 
good-will,  are  the  boys  whom,  in  the  days  of  their 
youth,  it  was  my  duty  to  discipline.  Always  I 


54 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


hear  the  same  story:  “  I  couldn’t  see  it  straight 
at  the  time  and  I  didn’t  realize  what  it  meant; 
but  the  best  thing  that  ever  happened  to  me  was 
the  time  when  I  received  the  punishment  that  was 
due  me  for  my  offences,  and  learned  not  only  the 
presence  of  weaknesses  within  but  the  necessity 
of  overcoming  them  if  I  was  to  be  a  man.  .  .  . 

I  owe  more  to  the  discipline  which  the  school  ad¬ 
ministered  to  me  than  to  any  other  influence  in 
mv  life.”  It  is  a  remark  which,  in  substance  at 
least,  I  have  heard  again  and  again  from  the  lips 
of  old  bo  vs. 

This  does  not  mean  that  discipline  should  be 
administered  to  those  who  do  not  deserve  it,  but 
it  does  mean  that,  when  deserved,  it  is  generally 
the  one  remedy  that  will  correct  and  strengthen. 
Incidents  to  prove  this  could  be  supplied  in 
abundance.  Let  me  give  only  one  or  two. 

An  outburst  of  youthful  enthusiasm  had  once 
reached  rather  dangerous  proportions  and  had 
developed  suddenly  a  symptom  of  mob  spirit 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


55 


which  boded  ill.  It  was  necessary  to  resort  to 
somewhat  drastic  measures  to  convince  an  excited 
student  body  that  law  and  order  still  prevailed. 
Several  boys  were  summarily  dismissed.  For  the 
moment  the  excitement  only  increased  and  rest¬ 
lessness  was  everywhere  apparent.  Fancied 
grievances  prompted  a  few  hot-heads  to  start  for 
home  as  an  expression  of  sympathy  with  their 
mates  who  had  been  dismissed.  Some  thought  it 
wise  to  advise  their  parents  in  advance.  One  who 
did  so  received  this  prompt  and  disconcerting 
telegram  in  reply:  “  Come  home;  go  to  the  back 
door;  let  the  cook  feed  you;  then  go  to  work.” 
I  learned  afterwards  that  the  substance  of  this 
message,  which  the  troubled  youth  had  rashly 
conveyed  to  his  friends,  speedily  became  known 
among  the  hot-heads  of  the  group,  and  did  more 
to  restore  sanity  and  quiet  than  all  the  efforts  of 
the  faculty  combined. 

On  this  same  occasion  two  bovs  whose  older 
brother  had  been  dismissed,  made  up  their  minds 


56 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


to  leave.  They  had  gone  only  a  short  distance 
from  the  school  when  it  was  discovered  that  there 
were  not  funds  enough  available  to  complete  the 
home  journey.  A  telegram  was  sent  to  the  fa¬ 
ther,  stating  the  facts  and  asking  for  money. 
The  father  replied  that  he  would  meet  them  in 
person  and  bring  them  all  the  money  required. 
In  due  season  he  arrived,  giving  no  evidence  of 
his  real  attitude  in  the  matter.  Quietly  he  said 
to  his  impetuous  sons:  “  I  suppose  you  left  rather 
hurriedly  and  there  must  be  some  cleaning-up  to 
do.  Suppose  we  go  back  to  Andover  and 
straighten  things  out.”  Arriving  in  Andover,  he 
asked,  “  Have  you  said  anything  to  the  principal 
about  your  plans?”  “No,”  was  the  reply. 
“  Don’t  you  think  we  had  better  call  on  him  and 
explain  matters  before  you  go?  ”  “  Yes,”  came 
the  brief  but  enthusiastic  response. 

A  little  later  the  trio  appeared  at  my  office.  I 
looked  the  father  over  and  I  confess  to  appre¬ 
hensions.  He  was  a  splendid  type  of  American 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION  57 

citizen,  well  over  six  feet  in  height  and  of  mag¬ 
nificent  physical  proportions.  I  knew  that  he 
had  always  taken  special  pride  in  maintaining  his 
youthful  spirits  and  interests  with  his  boys,  and 
that  when  the  ice  left  the  Hudson  River  near 
their  home  each  spring  he  was  accustomed  to 
swim  across  and  back,  with  the  boys  tagging  at 
his  heels,  to  show  that  he  was  still  young  in  spirit 
and  vigor.  I  regretted  the  possibility  of  losing 
his  esteem  and  good-will. 

He  closed  the  door  and  then  turned  to  his  boys. 
“  I  understand,”  he  said  quietly,  “  that  you  boys 
think  you  ought  to  leave  school  because  your 
brother  has  been  expelled.”  Two  nodding  heads 
gave  their  unqualified  assent  to  this  declaration. 
“  Well,”  added  the  father  with  a  smile,  “  you  are 
not  going  to  leave  school.  You  are  going  to  stay 
here  and  redeem  the  family  name,  that  is,  if  my 
money  holds  out  and  the  faculty  are  willing. 
And,”  he  added  with  some  feeling,  44 1  want  to 
tell  you  this,  and  I  want  to  say  it  in  the  presence 


58 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


of  Mr.  Stearns,  if  Bill  had  not  been  expelled  for 
what  he  has  done,  you  would  not  have  had  to 
call  on  me  for  money  to  get  you  home.  I  would 
have  come  up  here  myself  and  taken  you  home. 
You  would  never  have  been  permitted  to  stay  in 
a  school  that  would  overlook  an  offence  of  that 
kind  and  extend  leniency  to  a  boy  who  had  proved 
himself  so  ungrateful  for  what  he  has  secured 
here.  Now  go  back  to  your  work,  and  remember 
that  you  are  to  reestablish  the  good  name  of  your 
family  in  this  old  school.”  He  stepped  forward 
to  the  desk  and  extended  his  hand  in  a  warm  and 
friendly  grip,  leaving  the  office  with  two  disil¬ 
lusioned  and  downcast  boys  following  at  his  heels. 

The  boys  remained  in  the  school  and  completed 
their  courses  with  credit.  They  left,  carrying 
with  them  the  good-will  and  esteem  of  students 
and  faculty  alike.  But  the  most  interesting  de¬ 
velopment  in  the  situation  was  the  final  effect  on 
the  boy  who  had  been  subjected  to  punishment 
and  forced  to  sever  the  school  connections.  In 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


59 


his  case  the  reaction  came  much  sooner  than  it 
does  with  most.  Among  all  the  boys  of  my  ac¬ 
quaintance,  I  know  of  none  who  developed  a 
more  loyal  and  enthusiastic  interest  in  the  school 
than  did  he.  His  enthusiasm  indeed  became  so 
unbounded  that  he  was  made  secretary  of  the 
Academy’s  largest  Alumni  Association.  During 
his  brief  term  of  office  he  more  than  doubled  its 
enrollment.  When  he  came  back  to  the  school, 
as  he  sometimes  did,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  bring 
his  bag  to  my  door  and  make  mv  home  his  head- 
quarters, — a  rather  unusual  occurrence  when  a 
boy  has  only  recently  left  the  school  halls,  and 
when  some  of  his  friends  at  least  are  still  there. 
Again  and  again  before  bis  untimely  death  that 
boy  would  tell  me  with  deepest  feeling  of  what 
that  deserved  discipline  had  meant  in  his  life. 
“  It  set  me  thinking,”  he  said;  “  showed  me  that 
I  was  drifting  and  didn’t  know  it.  It  gave  me 
the  clue  vffiich  turned  me  right-about-face. 
Whatever  progress  I  have  made,  or  whatever  sue- 


60  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

cess  I  attain,  will  date  from  that  time.  Had  the 
offence  been  overlooked,  I  might  have  become  a 
worthless  good-for-nothing.” 

I  mentioned  this  incident  at  one  of  our 
alumni  dinners  recently.  At  the  close  of  the  ban¬ 
quet,  and  after  most  of  the  group  had  left,  a 
young  fellow  called  me  aside.  “  What  you  said 
to-night,”  he  began,  “  gave  me  just  the  courage 
I  needed  to  say  something  to  you  that  has  been 
on  my  mind  for  the  last  six  years.”  He  spoke 
with  evident  feeling. 

“  Do  you  remember  the  conditions  under  which 
I  had  to  leave  school?  ”  he  asked 

I  had  to  admit  that  my  memory  on  that  point 
was  a  bit  hazv. 

“  Well,”  he  continued  with  commendable 
frankness,  “  I  was  fired  for  stealing.  How  I  hap¬ 
pened  to  do  it  I  don’t  know.  But  I  did;  and  I 
was  caught,  thank  God!  When  I  left,  you  told 
me  that  my  future  would  all  hinge  on  the  way  I 
took  my  medicine;  that  if  I  admitted  to  myself 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


61 


that  I  deserved  all  that  came  to  me  in  the  way  of 
punishment,  and  perhaps  more,  I  would  have  a 
basis  on  which  to  make  a  fresh  and  clean  start; 
but  that  if  I  didn’t,  I  would  probably  end  in  jail. 
I  never  forgot  that,”  he  added  with  a  smile,  “  and 
here’s  the  record  I  have  been  wanting  to  show 
you.  I  slipped  it  in  my  pocket  when  I  left  home 
to-night,  thinking  that  I  might  be  able  to  screw 
up  my  courage  to  show  it  to  you.  But  I  would 
not  have  had  the  nerve  to  produce  it  if  it  had 
not  been  for  that  storv  you  told.  That  hit  me 

•/  %j 

square.” 

He  drew  from  his  pocket  a  package  of  papers. 
I  looked  at  them  with  keen  interest.  First  there 
were  reports  from  a  well-known  college,  covering 
the  full  four-vear  course.  The  marks  were  all 
A’s  and  B’s;  and  the  misdemeanor  column  was 
absolutely  clean.  Several  comments  indicated 
work  and  aptitude  of  an  exceptionally  high  or¬ 
der.  A  couple  of  letters  from  business  firms  for 
whom  he  had  worked  since  leaving  college  tes- 


62 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


tified  in  terms  of  unqualified  praise  to  his  relia-* 
bility  and  faithfulness. 

“  I  learned  my  lesson,  and  I’ve  made  good,” 
he  said  with  a  show  of  pride,  “  and  I  wanted  you 
to  know  it.  But,”  he  added  quietly  and  in  a 
serious  tone,  “  if  I  had  not  been  caught  and  re¬ 
ceived  the  jolt  that  dismissal  from  school  gave  me, 
heaven  only  knows  what  might  have  become  of 
me.” 

Why  it  is  that  parents  are  so  seldom  able  to 
appreciate  this  truth,  so  plainly  evident  to  those 
who  deal  constantly  with  youth,  is  a  puzzle  which 
I  have  never  been  able  to  solve.  Parents  who 
refuse  to  allow  deserved  punishment  to  fall  are 
evidently  prompted  to  take  their  untenable  posi¬ 
tion  through  the  fear  of  losing  the  good-will  and 
affection  of  their  children.  The  passing  frown 
or  trembling  lip  inspired  by  the  fear  of  pain 
carry  more  weight  and  exert  a  more  deadening 
influence  than  all  the  possibilities  or  certainties 
of  the  more  serious  troubles  that  are  still  in  store, 


THE  HOME  IN  CIVILIZATION 


63 


and  that  could  generally  be  avoided  if  deserved 
discipline  were  allowed  to  play  its  proper  part. 
And  the  very  thing  that  these  misguided  parents 
fail  so  completely  to  understand  is  that  their 
doubtful  attitude  is  inviting  that  very  loss  of 
affection  and  esteem,  for  the  years  to  come  at 
least,  which  they  so  deeply  dread.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  distinguish,  even  in  school  days,  be¬ 
tween  those  boys  who  have  been  pampered  and 
favored  at  home  and  those  who  have  been  blessed 
with  parents  of  sanity  and  courage;  between 
those  whose  parents  value  more  highly  the  smile 
of  the  passing  moment  than  the  stable  character 
of  later  years,  and  those  who  face  bravely  the 
discomfort  of  the  moment  in  the  assurance  that 
maturity  at  least  will  bring  to  those  unsteady 
youths  the  appreciation  of  real  values  and,  in  the 
end,  their  undying  affection  and  esteem. 

The  very  attitude  of  boys  towards  their  fathers 
and  mothers,  the  terms  in  which  they  speak  of 
them,  will  regularly  tell  the  tale.  “  The  old 


64 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


man  ”  and  “  the  old  woman  ”  are  terms  always 
used  by  the  former  group;  “father”  and 
“  mother  ”  belong  to  the  latter.  And  when  those 
unequaled  words — “  father  ”  and  “  mother  ” — 
are  spoken  with  reverence  and  respect,  one  can 
rest  assured  that  that  fortunate  boy  has  not 
missed  in  his  home  the  stern  hand  of  discipline 
when  discipline  was  needed  for  his  own  upbuild¬ 
ing. 

The  subject  of  discipline  is  one  of  such  vital 
significance  to  our  modern  life  in  general  that  I 
cannot  confine  my  discussion  of  it  to  the  realms 
of  the  home  alone.  It  deserves  and  will  receive 
special  consideration  later. 


PART  THREE 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


‘  ‘  The  man  who  cannot  wonder,  who  does  not  habitually 
wonder  and  worship,  were  he  President  of  innumerable* 
Royal  Societies,  and  carried  the  ‘Mechanique  Celeste ’ 
and  ‘Hegel’s  Philosophy,’  and  the  Epitome  of  all 
Laboratories  and  Observatories  with  their  results,  in  his 
single  head — is  but  a  Pair  of  Spectacles  behind  which 
there  is  no  Eye.” 


— Thomas  Carlyle. 


PART  THREE 

RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


IT  is  difficult  to  disassociate  the  home  from 
religion.  The  true  home  is  based  on  re¬ 
ligion.  Its  very  atmosphere  must  of  necessity 
be  spiritual.  It  is  created  and  sustained  by  those 
unseen  but  immensely  real  qualities  of  the  hu¬ 
man  soul  that  exist  only  in  the  realms  of  the 
spirit, — love,  honor,  reverence,  service,  sacrifice. 
And  it  is  on  these  abstract  realities  that  religion 
rests. 

In  the  development  of  civilization  religion  has 
played  a  commanding  part.  Without  its  influ¬ 
ence  the  human  race  could  never  have  attained 
all  that  to-day,  through  the  benefits  of  civiliza¬ 
tion,  it  counts  most  precious  and  most  satisfying. 
For  centuries  religion  has  exercised  its  potent 

influence  on  youth,  checking  the  baser  impulse, 

67 


68 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


restraining  from  the  evil  and  unworthy  deed, 
strengthening  in  the  moment  of  temptation,  and 
always  calling  into  expression  and  fuller  control 
the  best  and  noblest  in  human  character. 

It  is  common  to  speak  of  youth  as  irreligious. 
Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  But 
youth  has  not  cast  its  religion  into  cold  dogma 
and  forbidding  creed.  To  dogma  youth  is  utterly 
impervious.  Creeds  to  it  are  meaningless.  For¬ 
mal  religion  not  only  makes  scant  appeal  but 
frequently  repels.  But  the  fundamentals  of  re¬ 
ligion  revealed  by  Christ  and  lived  by  Him 
awaken  always  in  the  heart  of  a  youth,  even 
though  he  may  be  unconscious  of  their  true  sig¬ 
nificance,  a  definite  and  often  compelling  re¬ 
sponse.  In  the  ordinary  interpretation  of  the 
term  religion  probably  played  little  part  in  the 
appeal  to  which  those  Yale  boys  so  bravely  re¬ 
sponded  ;  yet  it  was  the  spiritual  appeal  alone,  as 
it  spoke  in  the  voice  of  duty,  that  called  them  back 
from  safety  and  asked  them  to  give  their  all; 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


69 


and,  without  exception,  every  boy  in  that  uni¬ 
versity,  and  every  boy  who  later  heard  the  story, 
acclaimed  the  deed  and  bowed  his  head  in  rever¬ 
ence  before  those  who  had  climbed  and  attained 
the  pinnacle  of  spiritual  grandeur. 

If  my  daily  contacts  with  boys  did  not  convince 
me  that  youth  is  at  heart  religious,  an  experience 
of  my  own  college  days  would  do  so.  It  was  my 
rare  privilege  during  those  impressionable  years 
to  sit  in  the  classroom  of  one  of  the  greatest  teach¬ 
ers  who  has  ever  filled  a  college  chair,  Charles  E. 
Garman,  professor  of  philosophy  in  Amherst 
College.  Mr.  Garman  combined  a  wonderfully 
keen  intellect  with  a  deep  and  genuine  spiritual 
nature;  and  he  had  besides  an  unusual  power  to 
interest  and  inspire  his  pupils.  His  class  in 
philosophy,  covering  the  last  two  years  of  the 
college  course,  was  known  as  the  hardest  course 
in  the  entire  curriculum ;  yet  it  was  elected  by  all 
but  two  or  three  of  the  class  of  which  I  was  a 
member. 


70 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


It  was  Mr.  Garman’s  custom  to  lead  his  class 
through  the  various  systems  of  philosophy  as 
they  had  developed  during  the  passing  centuries, 
forcing  us  to  imbibe  their  spirit  and,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  believe  with  all  our  hearts  in  the  truth 
of  the  doctrines  on  which  they  rested,  until,  after 
constant  debate,  argument,  and  thought,  we  were 
forced  to  recognize  their  fallacies  and  were  pre¬ 
pared  to  take  the  next  forward  step. 

Nothing  could  equal  the  deep  and  intense  in¬ 
terest  of  that  group  of  college  boys.  Discussion 
never  stopped  with  the  classroom.  It  went  on 
everywhere.  Mr.  Garman’s  study,  a  mile  from 
the  campus,  gathered  within  its  walls  every  night 
a  group  of  eager  students,  and  the  battle  was  con¬ 
tinued  till  the  late  hour  called  us  back  to  our 
rooms.  Frequently  small  groups  would  slip 
from  their  fraternity  houses  in  the  early  morning 
hours,  and,  stretched  under  shady  trees  or  roam¬ 
ing  the  countryside,  would  renew  the  struggle  to 
understand  the  great  and  eternal  problems  of 


BELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


71 


Human  life  and  the  human  soul  that  we  had  come 
to  feel  were  the  most  important  and  the  only  real 
things  in  the  world. 

The  class  met  during  the  last  hour  of  the  morn¬ 
ing  session,  and  it  was  our  program  to  go  from 
it  direct  to  dinner.  The  closing  bell  would  ring, 
but  no  one  would  stir.  With  a  smile  on  his  face, 
Mr.  Garman,  to  whom  this  was  no  new  experi¬ 
ence,  would  say  quietly:  “  Gentlemen,  the  bell 
has  rung.  I  am  willing  to  go  on  if  you  desire,  but 
I  wish  no  one  to  stay  under  compulsion.”  And 
none  left.  The  class  would  go  on,  fifteen  min¬ 
utes,  a  half  hour,  sometimes  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  beyond  the  closing  bell.  Far  from  protest¬ 
ing,  those  boys  welcomed  as  a  rare  privilege  this 
added  opportunity  to  wrestle,  under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  a  master-mind,  with  the  great  problems 
that  concern  the  human  soul.  Dinners  grew  cold 
and  often  were  swept  from  tables  by  irate  board¬ 
ing-house  keepers;  but  no  one  cared.  Under¬ 
classmen  dubbed  us  crazy  and  shook  their  heads 


72 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


in  amused  contempt  at  our  seeming  inability  to 
place  the  customary  emphasis  on  the  common¬ 
place  topics  of  student  discussion. 

If  we  were  deemed  crazy  during  the  early 
months  of  this  unusual  course,  we  must  have 
seemed  hopeless  lunatics  to  our  mates  as  we 
neared  its  end.  For  the  philosophical  peak  we 
had  been  so  laboriously  ascending  during  all  those 
months  we  found  to  be  crowned  with  the  Atone¬ 
ment  of  Christ  Himself.  During  those  never-to- 
be-forgotten  days  the  atmosphere  became 
charged  with  a  veritable  spiritual  electricity. 
We  seemed  to  move  in  a  new  world  in  which  the 
ordinary  interests  of  student  life  became  wholly 
inconsequential.  The  fact  that  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  ball  game  of  the  year  was  scheduled  for  the 
afternoon  would  be  almost  forgotten;  and  the 
noon  meal,  if  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  find 
one  waiting  for  us,  furnished  only  a  further  op¬ 
portunity  to  continue  the  discussions  begun  in 
the  morning’s  recitation  hour.  Several  of  us 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


73 


were  members  of  the  college  ball-nine  that  spring, 
and  I  shall  never  forget  the  feelings  akin  to  re¬ 
sentment  with  which  we  faced  the  necessity  of 
missing  occasional  classes  in  order  to  play 
scheduled  games  away  from  home  with  rival  col- 

O 

lege  teams.  Under  the  leadership  and  inspira¬ 
tion  of  a  master-teacher  we  were  dealing  at  first 
hand  with  the  great  facts  of  religion  and  the 
spiritual  world,  and  in  terms  that  had  meaning  to 
the  minds  of  youth.  And  that  experience  was  the 
most  exhilarating  and  satisfying  we  had  ever 
known. 

The  more  modern  teacher  of  philosophy,  revel¬ 
ing  in  the  cold  abstractions  of  agnosticism,  has 
never  been  able  to  evoke  an  enthusiasm  of  this 
kind. 

Bv  a  curious  coincidence  the  administration  of 
the  college  at  just  this  time  was  in  the  hands  of 
one  who  was  inclined  somewhat  to  excesses  in  his 
outward  and  formal  religious  life.  With  sincere 
apprehension  he  noted  the  falling  off  in  the  at- 


74 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


tendance  at  college  prayer-meetings  of  those  who 
he  believed  were  coming  under  dangerous  influ¬ 
ences  and  were  seemingly  losing  their  religion. 
We  were  clearly  under  suspicion.  But  remon¬ 
strances  proved  of  no  avail.  The  college  prayer¬ 
meeting  never  seemed  less  attractive.  Even  the 
regular  church  service  seemed  to  lack  something 
vital  and  real.  Probably  we  were  a  bit  conceited 
and  unduly  critical.  Yet  we  were  clearly  con¬ 
scious  that  in  that  classroom  in  philosophy  we 
were  dealing  at  closer  range  with  the  great  truths 
of  life,  as  the  minds  and  hearts  of  youth  are  given 
to  interpret  those  truths,  than  could  ever  have 
been  possible  in  the  prayer-meeting  and  the 
church.  And  yet,  of  that  class  of  only  seventy- 
odd  men,  seventeen,  if  I  remember  correctly, 
elected  the  ministry  as  their  life  calling,  while  the 
rest,  whatever  their  choice  of  profession,  faced  the 
world  with  a  new  and  compelling  consciousness 
of  the  sacredness  of  human  life,  of  the  proximity 
and  reality  of  the  spiritual  world,  and  of  man’s 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


75 


duty  and  privilege  through  a  life  of  service  to  aid 
his  Creator  in  the  carrying-out  of  the  divine  plan. 

No,  youth  at  heart  is  anything  but  irreligious. 
But  as  youth  approaches  manhood  its  religious 
interest  will  wane  or  grow  just  in  so  far  as  the 
influences  and  surroundings  to  which  it  is  sub¬ 
jected  are  benumbing  or  stimulating.  To-day 
they  are  chiefly  of  the  former  kind.  Mr.  Gar- 
man  himself,  during  the  last  years  of  his  work, 
admitted  that  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  re¬ 
shape  somewhat  the  character  of  his  course,  and 
to  emphasize  the  sociological  and  economic  rather 
than  the  spiritual  elements  in  human  life,  in  order 
to  meet  the  changed  attitude  of  the  student  mind. 
In  other  words,  the  deadening  influences  of  an 
increasingly  irreligious  age  had  already  checked 
the  natural  growth  of  that  religious  interest 
which  is  found  always  in  the  heart  of  youth. 

But  what  has  in  part  disappeared  from  the 
lives  of  the  maturer  youth  of  college  years  is  still 
found  among  those  a  bit  younger.  Preachers 


76 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


regularly  accustomed  to  fill  college  and  school 
pulpits  unite  in  testifying  to  the  fact  that  the 
schoolboy  audience  is  far  the  more  responsive  of 
the  two.  Any  one  who  has  looked  into  the  faces 
of  five  or  six  hundred  boys,  when  some  preacher 
who  has  a  real  message  is  addressing  them,  and 
has  seen  those  faces  merge  into  one  solid  phalanx 
of  an  eager  and  responsive  whole  when  some  deep 
and  vital  religious  truth  is  eloquently  touched 
upon,  needs  no  further  assurance  that  youth  is 
at  heart  religious. 

All  the  more,  then,  must  we  deplore  the  loss 
from  our  modern  life  of  those  vital  and  stimu¬ 
lating  influences  that  lie  at  the  basis  of  human 
character,  and  that,  through  the  passing  years, 
have  so  strongly  aided  youth  in  carrying  out  its 
noblest  impulses  and  realizing  its  highest  aspira¬ 
tions. 

We  cannot  easily  estimate  the  real  values  of 

%/ 

religious  ideals  and  influences  in  our  own  lives, 
yet  those  influences  have  always  been  at  work. 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATIOISr 


77 


The  Church  has  played  its  part,  incompletely  and 
hesitatingly  no  doubt,  and  yet  offering  us  the  re¬ 
straint  of  fear  and  condemnation  for  wrongdo¬ 
ing,  and  the  appeal  to  nobler  thinking  and  cleaner 
living.  The  old-time  home,  cooperating  to  the 
full,  has  seen  to  it  that  the  recognition  of  God  as 
a  present  and  potent  force  in  human  life  should 
be  definitely  acknowledged,  and  the  fear  of  God 
instilled  in  youthful  hearts.  Whatever  the 
broader  and  more  tolerant  thought  of  later  years 
may  have  brought  in  the  way  of  gain,  only  a  fool 
can  be  blind  enough  to  ignore  the  constant  and 
powerful  influence  that  religion  has  exerted  on 
western  Christian  civilization. 

To-day  that  influence  has  been  sadly  under¬ 
mined.  In  the  lives  of  many  of  our  youth  it  has 
ceased  almost  wholly  to  exist.  It  is  the  constant 
complaint  of  the  Church  that  youth  no  longer 
responds  to  its  attractions  and  appeal.  In  the 
home  the  outward  manifestations  of  religion,  at 
least,  have  largely  disappeared.  To  most  of  our 


78 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


boys  and  girls  to-day  the  Bible  has  become  prac¬ 
tically  a  closed  book.  Family  prayers,  so  com¬ 
mon  in  times  past,  and  even  the  simple  request 
for  God’s  blessing  on  the  daily  meal,  are  almost 
unknown.  Under  the  requirements  of  law  the 
teaching  of  religion,  and  frequently  even  the  sim¬ 
plest  religious  exercises,  are  debarred  from  our 
public  schools.  Religion,  at  least  in  its  outward 
manifestations,  has  been  steadily  relegated  to  the 
scrap-heaps  of  the  past. 

With  this  almost  complete  disappearance  of 
the  outward  manifestations  of  religious  belief  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  youth  should  find 
little  in  the  Church  and  other  formal  religious 
activities  to  appeal  to  its  inner  spiritual  nature. 
Youth  does  not  even  fully  understand  what  the 
Church  stands  for,  or  just  what  it  means.  To 
youth  the  Church  seems  to  be  chiefly  concerned 
with  the  trivial  and  inconsequential,  and  to  ignore 
the  great  and  fundamental  spiritual  verities  of 
which  youth  is  dimly  conscious,  and  to  the  chal- 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


79 


lenges  of  which  in  great  emergencies  youth  in¬ 
variably  responds. 

A  father,  himself  a  minister,  has  voiced  to  me 
the  common  feeling  of  pessimism  over  the  seem¬ 
ing  lack  of  religious  interest  among  the  youth 
of  the  present  day. 

“  Everything,”  he  writes,  44  is  there  except  one 
thing.  These  boys  have  deep  feeling  and  a 
strong  loyalty.  But  organized  religion  leaves 
them  cold.  It  doesn’t  represent  their  vital  inter¬ 
ests  or  express  their  most  sacred  emotions.  Yet 
I  should  say  they  were  religious-minded.  From 
the  Church  point  of  view  they  are  wasted.  They 
have  been  reading  a  book  I  am  soon  to  publish — 
with  sympathy  and  agreement,  but  somehow  the 
Church  doesn’t  interpret  them.  It’s  a  great  ques¬ 
tion.” 

Yes,  it  is  a  great  question,  indeed, — a  question 
so  great  as  to  demand  our  keenest  and  most  un¬ 
biased  thought. 

Major-General  Leonard  Wood  expressed  to 


80  THE  CHxlLLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

me  not  long  ago  his  strong  conviction  that  if,  as 
he  had  often  been  told,  the  American  youth  of 
to-day,  as  contrasted  with  the  youth  of  former 
years,  were  losing  their  religious  interest,  the  fact 
must  be  accepted  as  evidence  of  the  beginning  of 
our  national  decay. 

This  is  strong  language,  but,  I  think,  not  too 
strong. 

We  must  bear  in  mind,  however,  that  there  is 
a  distinct  difference  between  active  religious 
interest  and  being  still  at  heart  religious.  The 
latter  is  the  natural  endowment  with  which  we 
are  all  blessed  by  our  Creator.  For  the  former 
we  ourselves  are  chiefly  responsible;  and  if  the 
youth  of  the  present  day  has  lost  its  religious  in¬ 
terest,  it  is  because  of  the  conditions  and  influ¬ 
ences  with  which  it  has  been  surrounded,  and  for 
these  we  of  an  older  generation  must  bear  the 
blame. 

What  has  caused  the  loss  of  this  vital  element 
in  our  American  life?  And  why  is  it  that  the 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


81 


American  people  as  a  whole  are  so  indifferent  to 
a  loss  of  such  sinister  significance? 

A  complete  answer  to  these  very  natural  ques¬ 
tions  cannot  easily  be  given.  But  it  can  be  fairlv 
stated  that  the  materialistic  spirit  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live  has  exerted  its  deadening  influence 
on  all  that  is  not  purely  practical  and  utilitarian. 
Spiritual  values  find  no  place  in  such  a  scheme 
of  thought,  and  spiritual  interests  have  been 
largely  supplanted  by  interests  of  a  more  ma¬ 
terial  kind.  Men  of  calibre  and  vision,  be  they 
statesmen  or  leaders  in  the  business  world,  are 
not  blind  to  the  truth.  But  for  men  of  smaller 
mould  the  pace  of  the  material  world  has  been  a 
bit  too  fast  of  late.  The  wine  of  material  suc¬ 
cess  has  befuddled  their  senses.  The  wonderful 
advances  in  the  realms  of  applied  science  which 
have  ministered  to  their  physical  comfort  and 
ease  have  undermined  their  sanity  and  sadly 
warped  their  judgments.  For  the  moment,  at 
least,  they  have  lost  their  bearings. 


82 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


The  standard  by  which  success  is  measured  is 
no  longer  the  standard  of  character  and  moral 
worth,  but  that  of  financial  standing  and  material 
achievement. 

Material  prosperity  invariably  breeds  a  spirit 
of  selfishness  and  of  iconoclasm,  and  it  is  this 
spirit,  so  rampant  to-day,  that  leads  men  to  look 
with  contempt  on  all  that  is  associated  with  the 
past.  Puffed  with  conceit,  they  seem  prone  to 
believe  that  for  them  alone,  a  type  of  superman 
almost,  a  generous  Fate  has  reserved  these  so 
recently  discovered  secrets  of  science  by  which 
the  material  wealth  of  the  world  has  been  so  sud¬ 
denly  and  so  enormously  increased,  and  by  which 
their  physical  life  has  been  made  so  much 
smoother.  This  curious  attitude  of  mind  has 
spread  through  all  classes,  and  has  created  an 
atmosphere  in  which  the  youth  of  to-day,  still 
seeing  its  visions  and  still  eager  to  realize  them, 
finds  scant  encouragement  or  help.  Especially  in 
the  home  this  sinister  atmosphere  works  on  the 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


83 


mind  and  heart  of  youth  similar  to  a  numbing 
poison. 

This  strange  mental  attitude  of  the  successful 
man  of  affairs  is  constantly  reflected  in  letters 
written  by  fathers  about  their 
school  work.  Let  me  quote  briefly  from  two. 

“  I  cannot  afford  at  my  time  of  life,”  writes 
this  visionless  materialist,  “  to  have  my  boy  waste 
any  time  in  studying  the  Bible,  because  it  is  my 
intention  that  he  shall  adopt  some  useful  occu¬ 
pation.” 

The  “  useful  occupation,”  so  commonly  meas¬ 
ured  in  the  American  mind  bv  the  standard  of  the 
dollar,  cannot  include  in  the  minds  of  men  of  this 
type  anything  which  deals  with  the  higher  and 
spiritual  values  in  human  nature  and  that  is  not 
thoroughly  and  entirely  practical. 

Writing  about  his  boy’s  course  of  study,  an¬ 
other  father  says: 

“  I  do  not  want  any  Latin,  history,  or  gram¬ 
mar.  The  boy  might,  if  he  has  time,  take  Eng- 


boys  and  their 


84 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


lish  literature.  ...  I  must  have  him  de¬ 
velop  along  the  lines  I  have  indicated,  not  a  lot 
of  instruction  that  will  do  him  no  good  in  after 
life.  We  cannot  afford  to  waste  our  time  in  that 
way  in  these  days.” 

“  In  these  days.”  These  wonderful  days  in 
which  we  poor  humans  have  suddenly  been  thrust 
to  such  heights  that  we  can  learn  nothing  from 
the  teachings  of  history,  when  the  correct  use  of 
the  mother  tongue  can  be  safely  dispensed  with, 
and  when  for  limited  recreation,  if  time  can  be 
found  in  our  mechanical  life,  we  may  just  glimpse 
the  struggles,  the  hopes,  the  aspirations  of  the 
human  mind  and  soul  as  they  have  found  expres¬ 
sion  through  the  passing  centuries  in  literature. 

If  these  sentiments  represented  only  the  opin¬ 
ions  of  the  individuals  who  uttered  them,  we 
might  well  afford  to  smile.  Unfortunately  they 
represent  the  character  and  scope  of  the  limited 
thinking  of  a  great  mass  of  our  American  people 
to-day.  No  better  proof  of  this  fact  can  be  found 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


85 


than  in  the  recent  election  to  the  senatorship  of 
a  great  state  and  the  threatened  candidacy  for 
the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States 
of  two  successful  materialists  who  have  publicly 
and  blatantly  announced  their  contempt  for  edu¬ 
cation  and  sound  learning.  Not  all  are  equally 
frank  in  voicing  their  views,  but  their  lives  and 
actions  and  votes  place  them  in  one  and  the 
same  class.  And  this  is  far  from  humorous, — it 
is  tragic.  We  are  reminded  of  the  famous  saying 
of  Bishop  Berkeley  uttered  many  years  ago: 
“  Whatever  the  world  thinks,  he  who  has  not 
much  meditated  upon  God,  the  human  mind,  and 
the  Summum  Bonum,  may  possibly  make  a  thriv¬ 
ing  earthworm,  but  will  certainly  make  a  sorry 
patriot  and  a  sorry  statesman.” 

F ortunatelv  the  race  has  never  been  dependent 

upon  human  earthworms  for  constructive 

thought  and  leadership.  Real  leaders  have  first 

risen  above  the  mud  of  materialism.  And  when 

earthworms  have  rashly  ventured  to  leave  their 

*/ 


86 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


allotted  home  they  have  generally  in  the  end 
shriveled  and  died,  or,  at  best,  become  food  for 
fishes  that  swim  in  the  waters  beneath  and  birds 
that  soar  in  the  heavens  above  the  earth.  How¬ 
ever  sadly  outnumbered,  those  who,  in  the 
world’s  history,  have  saved  civilization  from 
threatened  disaster  and  pointed  it  to  the  higher 
levels  of  life,  have  always  been  made  of  tougher 
and  finer  stuff.  To-day,  in  our  hour  of  need, 
there  are  increasing  evidences  that  such  leader¬ 
ship  is  again  to  be  supplied. 

The  World  War  did  not  bring  us  the  LHopia 
that  we  desired  and  hoped  for.  It  seemed  only 
to  leave  us  chaos.  But  that  chaos  has  set  us  think¬ 
ing,  and  our  thought  is  carrying  us  more  and 
more  a  wav  from  the  material  world  and  back  to 
the  realms  of  the  spirit  and  religion.  Appeals 
for  the  restoration  of  religion  in  our  national  life 
are  steadily  increasing  in  volume  and  strength. 
They  are  coming,  too,  chiefly  from  those  in  po¬ 
sitions  of  real  leadership  in  public,  professional, 


RELIGION  IX  CIVILIZATION 


87 


and  business  life.  Our  late  President  Harding 
in  several  of  his  public  addresses  pleaded  ear¬ 
nestly  for  a  return  of  old-fashioned  religion  in 
our  national  life.  I  quote  from  one  of  these: 

“  In  spite  of  our  complete  divorcement  of  Church  and 
State,  quite  in  harmony  with  our  religious  freedom,  there 
is  an  important  relationship  between  Church  and  Na¬ 
tion,  because  no  nation  can  prosper,  no  nation  can  sur¬ 
vive,  if  it  ever  forgets  Almighty  God.  I  have  believed 
that  religious  reverence  has  played  a  very  influential 
and  helpful  part  in  the  matchless  American  achieve¬ 
ment,  and  I  wish  it  ever  to  abide.  If  I  were  to  utter  a 
prayer  for  the  republic  to-night,  it  would  be  to  recon¬ 
secrate  us  in  religious  devotion  and  make  us  abidingly  a 
God-fearing,  God-loving  people.” 

President  Coolidge  has  frequently  sounded 
the  same  note.  The  Secretary  of  War  has  verv 
recently  made  a  similar  plea.  A  very  unusual 
and  significant  editorial  article  appeared  only  a 
few  weeks  ago  in  the  Manufacturers 3  Record 
of  Baltimore,  Maryland.  I  venture  to  quote 
from  it  at  some  length: 

Judge  Gary,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American 


88 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  made  an  address  which  is  prob¬ 
ably  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ever  delivered  before  a 
business  meeting  of  that  kind  in  this  or  any  other  coun¬ 
try.  It  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to  the  subject  of 
religion  and  to  the  Bible,  urging  the  members  of  the 
Institute  to  study  the  Bible  and  to  follow  its  teachings. 

Judge  Gary  had  recently  returned  from  a  trip  to 
Palestine  and  other  Eastern  countries.  Evidently  the 
spirit  that  hovers  over  Palestine,  and  the  thoughts  that 
must  flood  the  soul  of  every  intelligent  man  who  visits 
that  country,  were  still  making  their  deep  impress  upon 
him  when,  in  his  address,  he  stressed  over  and  above 
everything  else  the  supreme  importance  of  the  Bible  as 
the  guide  for  the  individual  man  and  for  the  nation. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  movements  ever  known  in 
the  history  of  this  country,  and  perhaps  in  the  history 
of  all  countries,  is  the  broadening  interest  in  the  study 
of  the  Bible  and  in  the  preaching  of  Christianity  in 
offices,  in  shops,  and  from  editorial  chairs.  Never  in 
our  experience  has  there  been  such  a  universal  discussion 
and  unceasing  endorsement  of  Christianity  in  the  news¬ 
papers  of  the  country  as  is  seen  to-day.  Hundreds  of 
the  leading  daily  papers  of  all  sections  are  constantly 
publishing  editorials  about  Christianity,  many  of  them 
matching  anything  which  is  heard  from  the  pulpit.  A 
number  of  daity  papers  are  publishing  the  Bible  as  a 
serial,  giving  a  chapter  day  by  day.  Hundreds  are 
publishing  one  or  two  Bible  texts  every  day.  Business 
men  everywhere  are,  to  a  greater  extent  than  we  have 


RELIGION  IN  CIVILIZATION 


89 


ever  seen  before,  emphasizing  the  supreme  importance  of 
religion ;  and  to-da y  one  who  reads  widely  would  prob¬ 
ably  see  references  to  the  necessity  of  the  Golden  Rule 
in  business  a  hundred  times  more  frequently  than  in 
former  years. 

Judge  Gary’s  splendid  address  only  serves  to  bring 
out  more  clearly  the  fact  that  great  business  organiza¬ 
tions  composed  of  the  foremost  men  of  America  are 
recognizing  that,  over  and  above  all  else  in  this  world, 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible  must  be  the  supreme  guide  of 
mankind,  even  in  business  matters,  if  the  world  is  to  be 
saved  from  the  turmoil  and  chaos  of  the  hour. 

These  are  truly  hopeful  signs.  But  they  are 
still  only  signs.  If  the  need  which  these  thought¬ 
ful  leaders  so  clearly  recognize  is  to  be  met,  and 
the  hopes  which  they  voice  are  to  be  realized,  the 
responsibility  rests  squarely  on  every  loyal 
American  citizen  to  scan  his  own  record  and  to 
contribute  his  individual  share  to  the  restoration 
of  the  crumbling  foundations  of  our  national  life. 


PART  FOUR 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES— THE 
MOVIES,  THE  STAGE, 

AND  LITERATURE 


“Civilization  surely  is  in  danger.  Men  and  women, 
even  children  are  thinking  of  their  rights  rather  than  of 
their  duties.  They  have  gone  mad  at  pleasure  seeking. 
They  are  crowding,  crowding,  crowding  towards  a  goal — 
which  too  often  is  the  insane  asylum,  the  prison,  the 
bankruptcy  court  (financial  or  moral)  and  despair. 

“Within  a  day  or  two  I  have  received  the  report  of 
the  superintendent  of  the  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane 
in  Kansas  City.  This  able  expert  blames  for  the  in¬ 
creased  cost  of  his  institution  and  others  like  it  and  the 
increased  cost  of  caring  for  defectives  by  the  State,  the 
motion  picture  and  the  motor-car  almost  exclusively.  I 
would  go  further  and  blame  it  to  the  general  jazz  en¬ 
vironment  which  surrounds  the  race.” 

— Z>r.  Max  G.  Schlapp,  Criminologist. 


PART  FOUR 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES— THE 
MOVIES,  THE  STAGE, 

AND  LITERATURE 

WHAT  are  we  offering  our  boys  and  girls 
of  this  modern  age  in  place  of  what  has 
been  lost?  What  are  the  influences  that  are 
moulding  lives  and  shaping  characters,  and  that 
are  to  determine  the  quality  of  the  manhood  and 
womanhood  of  to-morrow? 

It  is  pretty  commonly  agreed,  I  think,  that  the 
most  wide-spread,  if  not  the  most  potent,  in¬ 
fluence  at  work  upon  our  young  people  to-day  is 
found  in  the  movies  and  the  stage.  The  movies, 
at  least,  were  unknown  to  earlier  generations. 
The  stage  had  little  contact  with  plastic  youth, 
subjected  to  the  influence  of  old-fashioned  homes 
where  there  regularly  existed  an  attitude  of  mis¬ 
giving  towards  everything  and  every  one  con- 

93 


94 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


nected  with  the  theatre.  But  the  boys  and  girls 
of  the  present  generation  find  here  their  greatest 
and  most  constant  source  of  amusement  and  re¬ 
laxation.  Daily  the  movies  minister  to  the  sup¬ 
posed  wants  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  chil¬ 
dren,  rich  and  poor,  north,  south,  east,  and  west. 
Surely  we  cannot  wisely  ignore  the  character  of 
such  an  influence  making  itself  felt,  as  this  does, 
directly  and  constantly  on  the  minds  and  souls 
of  impressionable  youth. 

With  all  its  wonderful  possibilities  for  good, 
and  in  spite  of  the  good  it  sometimes  does  ac¬ 
complish,  this  recent  addition  to  the  life  of  the 
world  has  yet  to  prove  that  its  total  effect  has 
been  anything  but  harmful,  and  immensely  harm¬ 
ful  at  that.  If  parents  were  still  in  control,  and 
would  exercise  their  discretion  and  judgment  as 
to  the  pictures  and  plays  that  their  children  might 
see,  we  might  view  the  situation  more  calmly. 
But  parents  are  not  often  in  control,  and,  when 
they  are,  they  appear  to  have  lost  all  sense  of 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES 


95 


proportion  and  judgment.  It  is  the  youngsters 
themselves  who  decide,  and  the  decision  is  based 
neither  on  experience  nor  judgment,  but  on  im¬ 
pulse — and  an  impulse  most  often  resulting  from 
an  appeal  to  the  weakest  in  human  nature. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  one  of  the  strong¬ 
est  appeals  that  the  movies  make,  and  with  very 
evident  intent,  relates  to  the  irregularities  of  hu¬ 
man  life,  the  extravagances  in  human  action,  and 
the  unnatural  in  human  relationships.  The  sex 
appeal  is  almost  always  present  and  blatant.  No 
matter  what  the  individual  film  may  be  or  the  in¬ 
dividual  program  arranged,  it  is  almost  impossi¬ 
ble  to  sit  through  a  movie  show  without  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly  confronting  this  appeal  either 
in  the  announced  film  or  in  a  special  film  added 
to  those  advertised  on  the  regular  program.  The 
stage  has  followed  much  the  same  line,  until  one 
has  to  search  long  to  find  a  play  which  does  not, 
somewhere  in  its  course,  bring  to  one’s  cheeks  the 
blush  of  shame. 


96 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


Not  long  ago  I  read  in  an  issue  of  The  Farm 
Journal  an  article  of  timely  and  vigorous  pro¬ 
test.  The  writer,  Mr.  John  B.  Wallace,  collected 
at  random  a  list  of  some  of  the  films  that  were  at 
the  time  enjoying  exceptional  popularity  on  the 
screen  throughout  the  land.  A  glance  at  the 
titles  alone  is  enough.  Here  are  a  few: 

Why  Trust  Your  Husband?;  The  Fruits  of 
Desire;  The  Woman  of  Pleasure;  His  Tempo¬ 
rary  Wife;  Playthings  of  Passion;  My  Hus¬ 
band’s  Other  Wife;  A  Bachelor’s  Children;  Ex¬ 
perimental  Marriage;  The  Flame  of  Passion;  My 
Unmarried  Wife;  Sex  Lure;  Flames  of  the 
Flesh;  Lawless  Love;  When  Men  Desire;  His 
Bridal  Night;  The  Evil  Women  Do;  For  Hus¬ 
bands  Only. 

With  commendable  frankness  and  courage 
Mr.  Wallace  truthfully  savs: 

Countless  thousands  of  people  can  and  do  stay  away 
from  the  movies,  going  only  when  a  particular  picture 
is  shown  that  they  know,  by  the  reputation  of  the 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES 


97 


author  or  producer,  will  not  insult  either  their  intelli¬ 
gence  or  their  decency.  Thousands  more  find  such  pic¬ 
tures  so  rare  that  they  never  go.  Yet  there  are  other 
countless  thousands  who  will  and  do  take  their  places ; 
and  it  is  these  pathetic  audiences,  helplessly  swallowing 
all  the  drivel  and  nasty  sex  stuff  that  is  flung  at  them, 
that  support  the  motion-picture  business  to-day. 

The  comedy  is  in  many  ways  more  dangerous  to 
young  people  than  the  serious  dramas,  and  especially 
to  small  children.  The  theatres  that  cater  to  the  pat¬ 
ronage  of  children  realize  that  their  audiences  are  not 
interested  in  dramatic  productions,  and  therefore,  for 
their  benefit,  exhibit  action  pictures  and  comedies. 
Children  are  naturally  fun-loving  and  have  a  keen  sense 
of  the  ridiculous.  Even  little  tots  of  four  and  five 
years  will  get  a  laugh  out  of  the  antics  of  a  screen 
comedian.  Consequently,  the  association  of  policemen 
and  clergymen  in  ridiculous  roles  early  breeds  a  dis¬ 
respect  which  it  is  almost  impossible  for  parental  teach¬ 
ing  and  explanation  to  offset. 

Furthermore,  the  comedies  are  the  worst  offenders 
when  it  comes  to  appealing  to  sex  instincts.  Some  of 
the  situations  border  very  closely  upon  obscenity.  Very 
few  comedies  of  the  popular  type  lack  a  bedroom  scene, 
a  disrobing  act,  or  a  bevy  of  young  women  who  have 
taken  off  all  the  clothes  they  dare.  At  least  the  sex 
dramas  of  the  serious  picture  plays  attempt  to  prove 
something,  but  the  comedies  drag  in  the  sex  thrill  with¬ 
out  the  shadow  of  an  excuse,  except  the  cash  value  of 


98 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


catering  to  the  worst  passions  of  the  boys  and  men  in 
the  audience. 

The  other  day  I  picked  up  a  copy  of  the  Police 
Gazette.  I  can  distinctly  recall  the  time  when  a  grown 
man  would  feel  inclined  to  blush  if  caught  glancing 
through  this  periodical.  But  after  a  decade  of  motion- 
picture  comedies  the  Gazette  seemed  to  me  strangely 
tame  and  innocuous.  It  is  much  the  same  with  books. 
Novels  that  are  kept  under  lock  and  key  in  private 
libraries  lest  the  children  get  hold  of  them,  and  that  can 
only  be  obtained  upon  request  by  adults  at  the  public  li¬ 
braries,  are  dramatized  and  thrown  on  the  screen  in  all 
their  details.  If  any  portion  is  expurgated  it  is  only 
in  fear  of  state  censors  or  police  regulations. 

When  producers  delve  into  the  past  for  material,  as 
they  are  obliged  to  do  more  and  more,  the  whole  history 
of  mankind  is  open  to  them — the  most  stirring  and 
dramatic  events,  the  most  tender  of  love  stories,  the 
most  hair-raising  adventures.  And  what  do  they  select  ? 
Invariably  the  ugliest  and  most  salacious  episodes  of 
history,  something  that  has  44  a  little  spice.”  And 
then  they  bear  down  with  all  possible  weight  on  the 
spicy  portions. 

But  why  go  on?  Can  any  sane  person,  not 
unmindful  of  the  days  of  his  own  youth,  accept 
for  a  moment  the  belief  that  plastic  and  impres¬ 
sionable  boys  and  girls,  who  have  not  yet  fully 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES 


99 


gained  their  self-control,  and  whose  hardest  fights 
in  the  days  of  youth  must  always  be  against 
physical  temptation,  can  remain  uninfluenced  by 
the  constant  admission  to  their  minds  of  such 
vicious  poison  as  this?  If  one  were  to  accept  as 
true  the  teachings  of  the  screen,  it  would  be  neces¬ 
sary  to  believe  that  the  home  of  ideals  and  purity 
is  practically  non-existent,  that  virtue  in  man  and 
woman  is  altogether  a  novelty,  that  ministers  and 
those  who  profess  religion  are  cowardly  hypo¬ 
crites,  and  that  the  real  attractions  of  life  are  to 
be  found  in  the  wanton  violation  of  those  old 
standards  of  morality  and  long-tested  human  re¬ 
lationships  which  have  stood  for  centuries  as  the 
secure  foundations  of  western  and  Christian 
civilization. 

The  tendencies  of  the  teachings  of  the  movies 

have  their  counterpart  in  the  literature  of  the 

day.  The  best  sellers  among  the  novels  are  those 

which  deal  with  the  same  hackneved  theme.  The 

% 

more  extravagant,  the  more  blatant  the  portrayal 


100 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


of  domestic  infelicity  and  human  irregularities, 
the  wider  the  market.  Many  of  the  best  maga¬ 
zines  have  in  a  measure  yielded  to  this  tendency, 
while  our  news-stands  are  fairly  flooded  with 
cheap  magazines,  the  very  titles  of  which  make 
clear  their  character,  and  which  carry  stories 
many  of  which  would  not  have  been  tolerated  by 
the  public,  even  if  they  had  been  permitted  by 
law,  only  a  few  years  ago. 

A  well-known  monthly  magazine,  which  boasts 
of  an  impressive  circulation,  and  which  has  never 
been  averse  to  catering  to  the  weaker  side  of 
human  nature,  not  long  ago  published  a  serial 
story  of  the  familiar  and  extravagant  modern 
type.  The  first  installment  left  little  unsaid,  and 
the  advertising  it  was  given  was  widespread  and 
noisy. 

A  mother  chanced  to  be  visiting  her  son  at  the 
time,  and  picked  up  a  copy  of  the  magazine  in 
her  boy’s  room.  She  glanced  through  the  open¬ 
ing  chapters  of  the  story  with  increasing  appre- 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES 


101 


hension,  noted  the  suggestiveness  of  the  pictures 
adorning  the  pages,  and  then  in  unfeigned  dis¬ 
tress  brought  the  magazine  to  me. 

“  How  dare  they  publish  such  stuff?  ”  she  said 
excitedly.  “  It’s  enough  to  corrupt  any  boy.” 

And  it  was. 

A  month  later  the  proprietor  of  a  local  news¬ 
stand  sent  for  me.  The  monthly  issue  of  the 
magazine  in  question  had  just  appeared,  carry¬ 
ing  the  second  installment  of  the  offensive  storv. 
With  it  had  come  three  hundred  roughly  printed 
sheets  containing  a  reprint  of  the  opening  chap¬ 
ters.  A  note  of  explanation  from  the  publishers 
stated  frankly,  and  with  evident  pride,  that  there 
had  been  an  overwhelming  demand  for  the  pre¬ 
vious  issue,  a  demand  prompted  by  the  wide¬ 
spread  interest  the  story  had  aroused,  and  which 
they  had  not  been  able  to  supplv.  Thev  added 
that  it  had  seemed  to  them  wise  to  reprint  the 
opening  chapters  for  distribution  among  the  pur¬ 
chasers  of  the  later  issue  of  the  magazine,  in  order 


102 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


that  they  might  thus  be  enabled  to  follow  the 
complete  story ;  and  they  ventured  the  guess  that 
three  hundred  copies  would  probably  be  sufficient 
for  local  needs. 

The  significance  of  this  incident  should  be  at 
once  apparent.  And  yet  I  have  frequently  seen 
copies  of  this  same  magazine  in  the  homes  of  peo¬ 
ple  supposed  to  be  eminently  respectable  and  en¬ 
joying  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  public. 
The  fact  is  that  the  restraints  ordinarily  imposed 
on  immature  youth  in  the  matter  of  reading  have 
been  withdrawn,  even  in  the  home,  as  they  have 
been  in  relation  to  the  stage.  Yet  the  influence 
of  the  written  word  on  the  youthful  mind  is  im¬ 
pressive  and  lasting. 


PART  FIVE 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES— SOCIAL 

CONDITIONS 


‘'Any  society  can  put  down  offenses  if  it  chooses.  I 
hold  the  whole  school  responsible  for  this  offense.  I 
don’t  know  who  the  offenders  are,  and  I  don’t  want  to 
know.  They  would  not  have  done  it,  if  the  rest  of  you 
disliked  it  enough.  ’  ’ 


Edward  TJiring. 


PART  FIVE 


MODERN  SUBSTITUTES— SOCIAL 

CONDITIONS 

A  THIRD  factor  that  has  always  played  a 
prominent  part  in  its  influence  on  youth 
is  found  in  the  social  conditions,  he  they  local  or 
not,  with  which  youth  is  surrounded.  The  in¬ 
fluence  here  again  is  hard  to  define,  but  it  has 
always  contributed  its  generous  share  to  the 
shaping  of  the  habits  and  the  developing  of  the 
characters  of  our  boys  and  girls. 

The  loss  of  the  ordinary  conventions  of  life, 
now  so  conspicuous,  has  its  place  here  and  its  ef¬ 
fect  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  present  day 
in  which  our  young  people  move  so  freely  and  so 
strangely.  It  is  hard  to  recognize  in  these  con¬ 
ditions  elements  that  are  stimulating  and  helpful 
either  physically,  intellectually,  or  morally. 


106 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


Some  little  has  been  gained,  no  doubt;  too  much 
has  been  lost.  The  lack  of  the  old  and  tested 
moral  standards;  the  increasing  disrespect  of  law; 
the  undermining  of  the  home ;  the  flippancy  with 
which  many  of  the  most  sacred  things  of  life  are 
discussed  and  treated;  all-night  dances  for  chil¬ 
dren  still  in  their  early  teens;  automobile  “joy 
rides,”  unchaperoned  and  unrestrained — these 
things  contribute  nothing  to  the  stability  of 
youth,  while  they  strain  it,  on  its  weakest  side, 
to  the  breaking  point. 

Not  many  months  ago  I  had  the  privilege  of 
addressing  a  group  of  ex-service  men  at  their 
annual  banquet.  At  the  close  of  the  speaking  a 
young  fellow  asked  me  if  he  could  have  a  quiet 
chat  with  me.  I  consented  and  we  withdrew  to  a 
corner  of  the  room.  There  I  listened  to  a  strange 
and  heartrending  story. 

The  boy,  for  he  was  still  that  in  appearance, 
told  me  that  he  had  enlisted  at  a  very  early  age 
for  the  ambulance  service  in  France.  He  had 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


107 


been  badly  gassed  and  was  sent  to  Paris  to  re¬ 
cuperate  and  perhaps  to  be  sent  back  to  America. 
After  examination  the  doctors  assured  him  that 
he  had  only  a  fighting  chance  for  life,  and  ad¬ 
vised  him  to  return  home  as  soon  as  he  could. 
Passage  could  not  easily  be  secured  at  that  time, 
and  he  was  forced  to  remain  for  some  weeks  in 
the  French  capital.  Here  a  fit  of  discourage¬ 
ment  seized  him,  and  for  the  time  he  lost  his  grip 
on  himself.  The  loose  conditions  which  prevailed 
in  Paris  exerted  their  subtle  influence  on  his 
weakened  will,  and  he  plunged  into  the  excesses 
of  the  life  which  surrounded  him  on  all  sides.  As 
the  time  approached  for  him  to  sail  for  the  home¬ 
land  he  was  overwhelmed  with  remorse  as  he 
realized  how  far  he  had  departed  from  the  earlier 
and  finer  standards  which  had  formerly  governed 
his  conduct.  In  this  state  of  mind  his  one  and 
great  ambition  was  to  get  back  to  America, 
where,  freed  from  the  temptations  which  had  be¬ 
set  him  in  that  foreign  city,  and  stimulated  by 


108  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

the  conditions  lie  had  formerly  known  in  his  own 
country,  he  felt  confident  he  would  be  able  to  get 
his  bearings  once  more  and  make  a  new  and  hon¬ 
orable  start. 

At  this  point  in  his  story  a  look  of  pain  came 
over  his  boyish  face.  He  paused  for  a  moment, 
and  then,  leaning  forward  and  with  dramatic  in¬ 
tensity  he  said,  “  But,  Mr.  Stearns,  I  came  back 
to  a  Sodom!  ” 

I  asked  him  to  tell  me  just  what  he  meant  by 
that. 

“  Why,  you  see,”  he  replied  with  feeling,  “  I 
had  always  moved  among  the  best  people  at  home 
and  in  neighboring  places.”  He  mentioned  sev¬ 
eral  well-known  cities.  “  I  had  entered  full}"  into 
the  social  life  with  my  friends,  both  girls  and 

bovs:  and  I  did  not  for  a  moment  dream  that  the 

%/  7 

old  conditions  and  standards  of  conduct  I  had 
known  so  well  did  not  still  exist.  But  I  found 
that  they  had  all  gone.  I  found  things  as  bad, 
and,  in  a  sense,  worse  than  they  had  been  in  Paris 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


109 


where  every  loose  element  was  in  evidence,  for 
here  I  was  dealing  again  with  people  who  were 
supposed  to  be  respectable.” 

He  went  on  to  tell  me  of  some  of  his  recent 
experiences  in  this  supposedly  respectable  social 
life  to  which  he  had  returned  with  such  high 
hopes.  He  told  of  the  complete  absence  of  the 
old  and  restraining  conventions,  of  the  freedom 
with  which  old  and  young,  boys  and  girls  alike, 
openly  indulged  in  liquor,  and  the  effect  of  this 
indulgence  on  their  actions.  He  mentioned 
specific  cases,  almost  unbelievable  had  they  been 
related  bv  one  of  less  sincere  earnestness.  And 
then,  in  distress  so  manifest  as  to  be  pathetic,  he 
said,  “  And  under  the  excitement  of  it  all  my 
ambitions  and  resolves  all  broke  down  and  I  went 
the  limit  again.  But,  Mr.  Stearns,  what  could  a 
fellow  do  under  such  conditions?  ” 

The  self-righteous  Pharisee  will  doubtless  an¬ 
swer  that  the  boy  was  unforgivably  weak,  and 
that  he  alone  was  responsible  for  his  undermined 


110 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


will  and  unworthy  impulse.  In  a  sense  he  will 
perhaps  be  right;  but  the  schoolmaster,  whose 
continued  dealings  with  unstable  youth  add  con¬ 
stantly  to  his  stock  of  charity,  knows  only  too 
well  that  in  this  case  a  lad,  at  the  most  critical 
moment  in  his  life,  was  subjected  to  conditions 
so  needless  and  so  grossly  unfair  as  to  arouse  our 
just  pity  for  their  victim  and  our  hot  resentment 
against  those  who  were  responsible  for  or  toler¬ 
ated  them. 

I  could  give  innumerable  incidents  of  the  same 
distressing  kind,  stories  that  have  been  told  me  by 
remorse-stricken  boys,  and  frequently  by  dis¬ 
tressed  parents.  But  such  stories,  all  too  com¬ 
mon  nowadavs,  are  not  needed  to  drive  home  to 
any  who  will  listen  and  think  the  indisputable 
truth  that  we  cannot  subject  plastic  youth  to  the 
lax  and  deplorable  conditions  that  characterize 
our  modern  social  life  without  paying  the  inevi¬ 
table  penalty  in  the  dimming  of  spiritual  ideals 
and  the  weakening  of  moral  fibre. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


111 


The  public  attitude  towards  these  striking 
changes  that  have  come  over  our  social  life  forms 
an  interesting,  if  a  somewhat  disheartening, 
study.  How  the  plain  influence  of  these  things, 
so  clearly  taught  by  the  history  of  the  human 
race  in  its  long  struggle  from  savagery  to  the 
vantage  point  of  the  present  day,  can  be  ignored 
by  those  of  supposed  intelligence  is  impossible  to 
explain.  That  the  public  is  not  altogether  com¬ 
fortable  in  the  assumption  of  this  attitude  of 
heedless  indifference  is  clear  from  its  own  testi¬ 
mony.  Struggling  to  conceal  unpleasant  truths, 
it  has  invented  terms  misleading  and  unfair.  For 
that  which  is  attractive  and  alluring  it  makes  use 
of  soft  and  smooth-sounding  names.  For  that 
which  it  would  escape  it  chooses  words  the 
very  harshness  of  which  inspires  repulsion.  Like 
the  ostrich,  it  strives  to  hide  its  head  in  the  sands 
of  its  own  complacency  and  force  itself  to  believe 
that  all  is  well. 

“  Tolerance,”  says  Coleridge,  “  is  only  possible 


112  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

when  indifference  has  made  it  so.”  But  how  are 
we  to  account  for  the  callous  if  not  criminal  in¬ 
difference  of  the  present  day? 

Everywhere  we  find  the  tendency  to  use  the 
soft  pedal  when  dealing  with  unpleasant  facts. 
We  speak  of  “  petting  parties  ”  and  “  joy  rides  ” 
as  if  these  were  only  innocuous  and  wholesome 
pleasures.  We  decline  to  acknowledge  the  per¬ 
fectly  evident  dangers  which  they  involve.  They 
fit  in  nicely  with  our  pleasure-loving  tendencies, 
so  why  worry?  We  talk  indignantly  and  sneer- 
ingly  of  “  blue  laws,”  of  “  Puritanic  traditions,” 
of  “  out-of-date  ”  and  “  old-fashioned  ”  stand¬ 
ards,  and,  if  one  is  courageous  enough  to  face 
plain  facts  and  define  them,  he  will  promptly  be 
dubbed  a  “  Grundy  ”  or  a  “  Grouch.”  We  would 
like  to  believe  that  human  nature  has  undergone 
some  inexplicable  change  in  recent  years  and  can 
face  serenely  temptations  which,  in  all  ages,  have 
undermined  or  wrecked  human  character  unless 
successfully  overcome,  and  can  absorb  with  im- 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


113 


inanity  moral  poison  which  has  always  worked 
with  deadly  effect  in  humankind.  Careless  and 
indifferent  parents  will  smilingly  tell  us  that  our 
boys  and  girls  to-day  are  different,  that  they  are 
wiser  than  were  their  parents  at  their  age,  and 
that  they  can  safely  be  trusted  to  deal  with  life 
and  conditions  as  they  find  them,  whatever  those 
conditions  may  be. 

But  human  nature  does  not  change.  To-day 
the  laws  which  govern  its  development,  like  the 
laws  in  the  natural  world,  are  stable  and  opera¬ 
tive.  Those  who  deal  constantly  and  intimately 
with  youth  cannot  be  deceived  here.  Daily  inci- 
dents  confront  them  which  ever  refute  this  claim, 
and  the  significance  of  which  is  plain.  One  in¬ 
cident  alone  of  my  recent  experience  will  be 
sufficient,  I  think,  to  prove  my  point. 

On  a  beautiful  spring  afternoon  I  had  returned 
from  a  journey  which  had  kept  me  away  from 
the  school  for  several  days.  It  happened  to  be  a 
half-holiday.  The  regular  ball  game  scheduled 


114  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


for  the  afternoon  had  been  unexpectedly  can¬ 
celed.  The  boys  were  free  for  a  few  hours  to  do 
about  as  they  pleased.  Ordinarily  one  would 
have  expected  to  see  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of 
these  fellows  scattered  over  the  various  school 
playing-fields,  indulging  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
youth  in  what  are  regarded  as  its  most  attractive 
pastimes,  but  the  baseball  fields,  the  tennis  courts, 
and  the  track  were  as  deserted  as  if  some  dire 
calamity  had  suddenly  wrapped  the  place  in 
gloom. 

“  Where  are  all  the  boys  this  afternoon?  ”  I 

•/ 

asked  one  of  my  teachers. 

“  1  don’t  know,”  he  said,  “  but  I  imagine  that 
vou  will  find  them  at  the  movies.” 

“The  movies  a  day  like  this,”  I  exclaimed; 
“  that’s  impossible.” 

“  Well,”  he  answered,  “  I  saw  a  line  of  them 
heading  that  way  soon  after  the  lunch  hour,  and 
I  think  you  will  find  them  there.” 

Still  a  doubter,  I  set  about  mv  routine  work. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


115 


Late  in  the  afternoon  I  watched  from  my  study 
window  these  youngsters  streaming  up  from  the 
village.  My  friend  had  evidently  been  right. 
Pondering  over  the  matter,  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  there  must  have  been  some  unusual  attrac¬ 
tion  at  the  theatre  that  afternoon  to  draw  several 
hundred  boys  from  the  sunny  and  alluring  play¬ 
ing-fields  into  the  dark  and  dingy  precincts  of  a 
movie  house.  I  decided  to  investigate,  and,  dur¬ 
ing  the  evening,  strolled  down  to  the  village. 
The  posters  conspicuously  displayed  in  front  of 
the  building  told  the  story.  It  was  not  necessary 
to  investigate  further.  The  film  shown  that 
afternoon  was  “  Theda  Bara  in  Cleopatra,”  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  it  was  not  an 
enthusiasm  for  classical  history  that  drew  those 
boys  from  ball  grounds  and  tennis  field  into  the 
murky  atmosphere  of  that  dingy  playhouse  on 
that  beautiful  spring  day. 

NTo,  human  nature  has  not  changed;  and  we 
only  make  fools  of  ourselves  if  we  try  to  believe 


116 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


that  it  has.  Yrouth  will  respond,  as  it  has  always 
done,  to  the  baser  appeal  when  that  appeal  is 
strong  and  alluring. 

Robert  Service,  in  a  poem  written  shortly  be¬ 
fore  the  war,  has  touched  on  this  theme  and  has 
told  the  truth.  I  sometimes  wonder  how  much 
stronger  he  might  have  made  his  poem,  or  how 
much  more  boldly  he  would  have  spoken,  had  he 
written  several  years  later.  He  describes  the 
plight  of  an  angel  in  heaven,  a  red-blooded  and 
somewhat  restless  individual,  who,  tiring  of 
golden  crowns,  of  golden  harps  and  golden 
streets,  requests  his  good  Lord  for  permission  to 
visit  the  earth  for  a  time  and  mingle  with  mortals. 
The  permission  is  granted  and  he  starts  on  his 
journey.  His  arrival  is  depicted,  and  we  are  told 
of  the  surprise  with  which  the  devils  in  the  lower 
regions  watched  his  advent.  Then  Mr.  Service 
goes  on  to  tell  us  what  happened.  Here  is  what 
he  says : 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


117 


Never  was  seen  such  an  angel — eyes  of  a  heavenly  blue, 

Features  that  shamed  Apollo,  hair  of  a  golden  hue ; 

The  women  simply  adored  him ;  his  lips  were  like  Cupid’s 
bow; 

But  he  never  ventured  to  use  them — and  so  they  voted 
him  slow. 

Till  at  last  there  came  One  Woman,  a  marvel  of  loveli¬ 
ness, 

And  she  whispered  to  him:  44  Do  you  love  me?  ”  And  he 
answered  that  woman,  44  Yes.” 

And  she  said :  44  Put  your  arms  around  me,  and  kiss 
me,  and  hold  me — so - ” 

But  fiercely  he  drew  back,  saying:  44  This  thing  is 
wrong,  and  I  know.” 

Then  sweetly  she  mocked  his  scruples,  and  softly  she 
him  beguiled : 

44  You,  who  are  verily  man  among  men,  speak  with  the 
tongue  of  a  child. 

We  have  outlived  the  old  standards ;  we  have  burst,  like 
an  over-tight  thong, 

The  ancient,  outworn,  Puritanic  traditions  of  Right  and 
Wrong.” 

Then  the  Master  feared  for  His  angel,  and  called  him 
again  to  His  side, 

For  oh,  the  woman  was  wondrous,  and  oh,  the  angel 
was  tried! 

And  deep  in  his  hell  sang  the  Devil,  and  this  was  the 
strain  of  his  song : 

44  The  ancient,  outworn,  Puritanic  traditions  of  Right 
and  Wrong.” 


118 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


We  may  call  things  by  all  the  pleasant  or  re¬ 
pulsive  names  we  will,  but  we  shall  not  alter  by 
one  jot  the  established  laws  of  the  moral  world 
which  govern  the  development  of  the  human  race. 
Whatever  advance  mankind  has  made  through 
the  ages  has  been  due  to  the  observance  of  these 
unchanging  laws.  Individuals  and  nations  alike 
have  progressed  when  they  have  obeyed  them. 
They  have  collapsed  when  they  have  broken  them. 
The  laws  are  still  there  whatever  we  may  call 
them;  their  effects  are  inevitable,  however  we 
may  seek  to  blink  the  truth.  The  discovery  of 
and  our  readiness  to  obey  natural  law  in  the 
physical  world  have  brought  the  wonderful  ad¬ 
vances  that  recent  years  have  witnessed  in  every 
realm  of  applied  science.  Every  scientist  and 
most  of  the  rest  of  us  realize  that  we  cannot  trifle 
with  these  laws  without  inviting  danger  or  actual 
destruction.  Equally  is  this  true  in  the  moral 
realm.  It  is  time  that  we  recognized  and  ad¬ 
mitted  this  truth.  To  ignore  it  is  to  invite  ulti- 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


119 


mate  disaster  for  the  individual  and  the  civiliza¬ 
tion  we  now  enjoy. 

A  close  observer  of  youth  cannot  refrain  from 
the  belief  that  the  softening  influences  of  modem 
social  life  have  already  exercised  a  benumbing 
effect  on  youth.  Those  who  deal  at  close  range 
with  the  boys  of  our  schools  and  colleges  are 
agreed  that  the  boy  of  to-day  has  far  less  in¬ 
clination  than  had  his  predecessors  to  indulge  in 
the  “  rough  stuff  ”  of  undergraduate  days.  In 
one  sense  this  is  a  real  and  desirable  gain.  The 
disappearance  of  much  of  the  old-time  lawless¬ 
ness  and  meanness  is  an  unquestioned  gain; 
though  the  more  modern  and  gentle  “  students’ 
strike  ”  lacks  at  least  something  of  virility  and 
romance.  But  much  of  the  old-fashioned  “  horse 
play  ”  of  student  days  was  altogether  innocuous, 
while  at  times  it  indicated  the  presence  in  its  per¬ 
petrators  of  a  degree  of  initiative  and  originality 
not  wholly  uncommendable.  I  realize,  however, 
that  a  difference  of  opinion  prevails  on  this  point, 


120  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


and  I  have  listened  to  many  arguments  pro  and 
con.  But  if  these  modern  influences  are  tending 
to  undermine  the  vigor  and  enthusiasm  with 
which  youth  throws  itself  into  the  normal  and 
wholesome  activities  that  properly  belong  to  these 
younger  days,  argument  is  out  of  place.  There 
are  evidences,  I  think,  that  this  has  actually  hap¬ 
pened. 

I  chanced  recently  to  be  passing  a  Sunday  at 
one  of  our  well-known  universities.  It  was  in  the 
early  spring,  the  last  Sunday  before  the  close  of 
the  winter  term.  The  previous  day,  a  half-holi- 
day  for  the  students,  had  been  one  of  those  rare 
spring  days  in  which  a  still  distant  summer  sud¬ 
denly  injects  itself  into  the  midst  of  the  bleak¬ 
ness  of  the  passing  winter  and  gives  warning  of 
its  approach.  The  sun  beat  down  hot  and  clear, 
and  the  students  swung  their  coats  over  their 
arms  and  rolled  up  their  shirt-sleeves  as  they 
strolled  about  the  campus  and  the  streets  of  the 
city. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


121 


At  the  breakfast-table  that  Sunday  morning 
I  chanced  to  meet  an  old  acquaintance  of  college 
days,  a  famous  baseball  player  of  his  time,  and  a 
graduate  of  this  university.  He  drew  me  aside 
excitedly  to  tell  me  a  unique  and  almost  unbe¬ 
lievable  story.  On  that  alluring  Saturday  he  had 
closed  his  desk  and  given  up  his  business  in  order 
to  get  back  to  his  college  and  help  coach  the 
varsity  nine  which  was  to  start  on  its  annual 
southern  trip  at  the  beginning  of  the  spring  vaca¬ 
tion  early  in  the  following  week. 

“  There’s  something  radically  wrong  with  the 
boys  of  to-day,”  he  exclaimed  heatedly.  “  Let 
me  tell  you  what  happened.”  It  was  clear  that 
he  found  it  difficult  to  control  his  feelings  as  he 
spoke.  “  You  know  what  a  wonderful  day  it  was 
vesterday  for  baseball?  Well,  I  went  out  to  the 
field  and  donned  my  togs  and  waited  for  the 
team  to  show  up.  But  they  didn’t  come.  After 
about  an  hour  a  lone  individual  appeared.  I 
asked  him  what  had  become  of  the  squad.  He 


122 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


replied  that  he  understood  that  practice  had  been 
called  off.  4  Practice  called  off  on  a  day  like  this,’ 
I  exclaimed;  ‘the  first  decent  da}7  you  fellows 
have  had  out  of  doors  this  year,  and  the  spring 
trip  only  a  day  or  two  ahead.  That’s  impossible.’ 
‘  It  is  queer,’  the  youngster  admitted,  ‘  but  I  was 
told  that  a  notice  to  that  effect  had  been  posted 
on  the  bulletin  board.’ 

“  That  settled  it  for  me,”  went  on  my  irate 
friend.  “  I  hastily  dressed  and  went  back  to  the 
campus.  I  found  the  bulletin  board,  and  there, 
sure  enough,  signed  by  the  captain  himself,  was 
the  notice.  After  some  difficulty  I  found  the  cap¬ 
tain  and  demanded  to  know  the  reason  for  his 
unheard-of  act.  He  looked  a  bit  sheepish,  and 
by  way  of  explanation  told  me  that  one  of  the 
fraternities  had  given  a  dance  the  night  before, 
that  it  had  lasted  till  late  into  the  morning  hours, 
and  that  he  knew  the  members  of  the  team  would 
be  in  no  shape  for  practice.” 

My  friend  paused  to  wipe  the  sweat  from  his 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


123 


brow,  and  then,  raising  his  hands  excitedly,  fairly 
shouted:  “  I  tell  you  it’s  a  different  brood!  It’s 
a  different  brood!  ” 

That  afternoon,  at  a  fraternity  tea,  I  received 
full  confirmation  of  all  that  my  friend  had  told 
me.  And  the  interesting  part  of  it,  to  me,  was 
that  the  student  body  seemed  to  accept  the  thing 
as  a  perfectly  natural  and  normal  incident  of 
college  life. 

Such  an  incident  simply  could  not  have  hap¬ 
pened  only  a  few  years  back.  The  thing  would 
never  have  been  attempted  in  the  first  place.  But 
had  a  varsity  squad,  or  even  individuals  from  that 
squad,  dared  to  try  it,  the  student  body  would 
have  promptly  seen  to  it  that  they  were  never 
again  permitted  to  wear  the  uniform  of  the  col¬ 
lege,  if  indeed  they  would  have  been  allowed  to 
retain  their  places  in  the  college  community  it¬ 
self.  Without  doubt  this  may  be  regarded  as  a 
somewhat  extreme  and  unusual  illustration.  But 
it  clearly  denotes  a  tendency,  at  least,  which  can- 


124 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


not  be  avoided  if  youth  is  to  continue  to  react  in 

•/ 

perfectly  natural  and  normal  ways  to  the  soften¬ 
ing  influences  of  the  social  conditions  with  which 
it  is  surrounded. 

For  all  this  we  cannot  fairly  blame  youth. 
The  reactions  of  youth  are  still  normal,  as  they 
have  ever  been;  the  conditions  which  prompt 
these  reactions  to-dav  are  not;  and  for  these  con- 
ditions  not  youth  but  the  older  generation  is 
responsible. 


PART  SIX 


DISCIPLINE  VERSUS  SELFISHNESS 


‘  ‘  This  truth  comes  to  us  more  and  more  the  longer  we 
live,  that  on  what  field  or  in  what  uniform  or  with  what 
aims  we  do  our  duty  matters  very  little,  or  even  what  our 
duty  is,  great  or  small,  splendid  or  obscure.  Only  to 
find  our  duty  certainly,  and  somewhere,  some  way,  to  do 
it  faithfully,  makes  us  good,  strong,  happy  and  useful 
men,  and  tunes  our  lives  into  some  feeble  echo  of  the  life 
of  God.” 


— Phillips  Brooks. 


PART  SIX 

DISCIPLINE  VERSUS  SELFISHNESS 

THE  loss  of  discipline  in  home,  and  school, 
and  society  has  been  so  steady  and,  in 
recent  years,  so  appalling  that  to-day  its  influ¬ 
ences  are  everywhere  felt.  One  is  unpopular  who 
speaks  of  discipline  in  these  days.  It  is  not  good 
form.  This  is  an  age,  we  are  given  to  under¬ 
stand,  when  youth  should  develop  in  its  own  way, 
unhampered  and  unrestrained. 

This  pernicious  doctrine  has  spread  its  roots  in 
all  directions,  and  these  roots  have  gone  in  deep. 

It  is  hard  to  tell  where  this  theorv  first  started, 

«/ 

but,  wherever  that  may  have  been,  its  spread  is 

evervwhere  in  evidence.  It  runs  counter  to  all 
*/ 

the  experiences  of  individual  life  and  of  the  hu¬ 
man  race,  to  the  plain  teachings  of  history,  to  the 

testimony  of  all  those  who  have  achieved  real 

127 


128  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

greatness  and  positions  of  true  leadership.  And 
yet  it  has  its  vociferous  advocates  everywhere. 
“To  him  that  overcometh  ”  used  to  be  the  inspir¬ 
ing  slogan  for  a  man’s  life.  The  reverse  would 
appear  to  be  true  to-day. 

We  have  already  noted  its  effects  within  the 
home.  Examine  for  a  moment  the  teachings  of 
modem  pedagogy  and  the  theories  so  rampant  in 
modem  school  life.  Note  the  catchwords  that 
are  so  common  and  so  gratifying  to  a  generation 
immersed  in  pleasure,  seeking  material  gain,  and 
averse  to  all  things  irksome  and  restraining, — 
“  self-expression,”  “  self-realization,”  “  self-de¬ 
termination.”  Where  can  we  escape  them? 
What  their  advocates  persistently  refuse  to  tell 
us  is  that  in  the  last  analysis  these  all  spell  Self¬ 
ishness,  and  with  a  large  “  S.” 

That  there  is  something  good  in  this  theory  no 
one  will  dispute.  That  the  emphasis  is  wrong 
should  be  evident  to  all.  And  yet  our  public 
schools  have  become  almost  experiment  stations 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  129 


for  testing  these  absurd  nostrums,  and  there  are 
a  growing  number  of  private  schools  that  thrive 
lustily  upon  them.  If  many  of  our  self-ap¬ 
pointed  pedagogical  experts  could  have  their 
way,  all  schools,  public  and  private  alike,  would 
be  forced  to  enthrone  this  new  and  absolutely 
pernicious  doctrine  of  education. 

I  have  read  the  catalogues  of  some  of  these 
schools,  and,  when  I  have  finished,  I  have  been 
tempted  to  question  my  own  sanity.  The  mon¬ 
strous  absurdities  that  are  there  set  forth  would 
be  only  absurd  if  they  were  not  so  readily  ac¬ 
cepted  by  gullible  parents,  and  did  not  involve 
the  character  and  future  of  the  youth  subjected 
to  their  influence.  Easily  satisfied  and  duty¬ 
shirking  parents  are  captivated  by  assurances 
that  their  promising  boys  and  girls  are  unfolding 
under  such  influences  into  wonderfully  beautiful 

human  flowers.  Thev  have  been  led  to  believe 

«/ 

that  through  these  newly  discovered  methods  of 
education  the  old  Adam  has  been  completely 


130  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

eliminated  from  the  human  child,  and  that  noth¬ 
ing  less  than  an  angel  may  be  counted  on  for 
the  days  ahead. 

I  received  a  letter  recently  from  one  of  these 
schools  in  which  a  picture  of  this  kind  of  product 
is  given  me,  and,  apparently,  in  good  faith.  This 
is  what  the  headmaster  writes: 

“  As  I  wrote  you  before,  the  boy  is  very  sound  morally 
and  very  superior  intellectually.  His  father  once  asked 
me  what  I  could  find  to  correct  in  him,  and  I  could  sug¬ 
gest  only  a  slight  hesitancy  in  speech  and  a  tendency  to 
cock  his  head  on  one  side  when  speaking  close  to  a 
person.” 

If  this  is  the  description  of  a  normal  boy,  I  fail 
to  recognize  it.  Fortunately  I  have  not  been 
called  on  to  deal  with  that  kind.  I  hope  I  never 
may  be.  I  wouldn’t  know  what  to  do  with  him. 
My  first  impulse,  I  think,  would  be  to  teach  him 
to  steal  or  commit  murder  or  do  something  des¬ 
perate  that  would  at  least  give  me  reason  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  he  was  human.  Kipling  must  have  had 
some  such  boy  in  mind  when  he  wrote : 


DISCIPLINE  YS.  SELFISHNESS  131 


“  Angels  maj'  come  for  you,  Willie,  my  son, 

But  you’ll  never  be  wanted  on  earth,  dear.” 

Frankly,  I  don’t  believe  that  the  boy  in  ques¬ 
tion  was  ever  exactly  as  painted  by  his  admiring 
principal.  If  the  principal’s  statement  is  true, 
it  is  certainly  fair  to  ask  whether  there  may  not 
have  been  something  radically  wrong  with  the 
environment  of  a  school  to  which  the  reactions  of 
a  perfectly  wholesome,  normal  boy  would  ex¬ 
hibit  only  inconsequential  and  silly  mannerisms. 
Surely  the  prospects  of  a  virile,  rugged,  and 
manly  character  in  maturer  years  for  a  boy  of 
that  type  would  be  dark  indeed. 

This  tendency  to  extreme  individualism  and 
glorification  of  self,  which  has  developed  in  con¬ 
junction  with  the  loss  of  discipline,  is  not  limited 
to  the  home  and  school.  It  is  rampant  to-day  in 
all  phases  of  our  social,  civic,  and  economic  life. 
Individuals  and  groups  alike  are  more  and  more 
concerned  about  themselves  and  their  fancied 
privileges  and  grievances  and  with  steadily 


132  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 

lessened  thought  of  their  obligations  to  society  as 
a  whole.  The  classic  expression  of  an  old-time 
railroad  magnate,  “  The  public  be  damned,” 
represents  an  all-too-common  attitude  of  mind 
in  these  later  days.  Woman  shouts  for  her 
“  rights  labor  joins  the  chorus  and  clamors  for 
the  same  somewhat  indefinable  thing;  and  the 
sterner  sex,  not  to  be  outdone,  screams  for  its 
“  personal  liberties.”  Seldom,  in  all  this  noisy 
turmoil,  do  we  hear  the  inspiring  words  “  duty,” 
“  service,”  “  sacrifice,” — words  which  were  ever 
in  the  minds  and  constantly  on  the  tongues  of 
those  who  laid  the  foundations  and  builded  so  well 
the  lower  structure  of  our  national  life.  And  yet 
happiness,  the  pursuit  of  which  we  acknowledge 
as  an  inalienable  right,  and  the  avowed  aim  of 
all  those  who  raise  this  boisterous  turmoil,  has 
never  yet  been  found  where  these  words  are  lack¬ 
ing  in  the  thoughts  of  men. 

General  Robert  Lee,  in  those  immortal  words 
which  have  become  an  American  classic,  voiced 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  133 


for  all  true  and  patriotic  Americans  the  spirit  of 
the  founders  and  builders  of  this  great  republic 
when  he  said,  “  Duty  is  the  sublimest  word  in 
the  English  language/’  The  modern  invitation, 
so  freely  extended  to  the  youth  of  to-day,  to  seek 
its  satisfactions  in  selfish  indulgence  is  in  marked 
and  painful  contrast  to  the  sterling  advice  given 
by  this  same  great  American  to  his  son.  He 
writes : 

“  I  know  that  wherever  you  may  be  placed,  you  will 
do  your  duty.  That  is  all  the  pleasure,  all  the  comfort, 
all  the  glory  we  can  enjoy  in  this  world.” 

Duty  involves  service  for  others  and  not  for 
self.  Self-expression  and  self-determination,  on 
this  sound  basis,  are  realized  only  and  always  by 
the  investment  of  one’s  self  and  one’s  talents  in 
the  welfare  of  the  community.  And  this  cannot 
be  done  without  facing  constantly  the  exacting 
demands  of  discipline. 

It  is  this  unwillingness  of  the  present  genera- 


134  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


tion  to  face  discipline,  to  deny  itself  anything 
that  for  the  moment  pleases,  even  when  that  de¬ 
nial  ministers  to  the  welfare  of  society, — that  is 
responsible  for  much  of  the  present-day  unrest. 
The  passing  whim,  the  personal  interest,  the  self¬ 
ish  ambition, — these  must  have  the  right  of  way. 
If  the  needs  of  the  community  and  the  welfare 
of  society  as  a  whole  can  later  find  a  place,  well 
and  good.  If  not,  let  them  pass. 

Unfortunately  this  purely  selfish  and  un¬ 
patriotic  attitude  of  mind  is  not  limited  to  those 
who  lack  vision  and  opportunity.  Nowhere  is  it 
more  strikingly  in  evidence  than  among  those 
who,  through  birth  and  privilege,  have  been  per¬ 
mitted  to  fill  positions  of  leadership  and  respon¬ 
sibility.  From  these  high  sources  widespread 
and  demoralizing  influences  are  flowing  which  of¬ 
fer  an  open  and  alluring  invitation  to  those  of 
weaker  minds  and  wills  to  realize  their  distorted 
visions  and  unworthy  ambitions.  Prompted  by 
the  same  selfish  motives  the  robber  collects  his 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  135 


loot  and  the  gunman  murders  his  helpless  victim. 
And  plastic  youth,  bewildered  and  perplexed,  is 
the  greatest  sufferer  of  all. 

I  chanced  to  be  sitting,  at  a  banquet  just  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  beside  that  peerless  Ameri¬ 
can,  Major-General  Leonard  Wood.  As  the  ta¬ 
bles  were  cleared  and  the  speaking  was  about  to 
begin  the  appearance  of  liquor  was  everywhere 
noted  about  the  hall.  Turning  to  me,  in  very  evi¬ 
dent  distress  of  mind,  the  general  said,  “  Is  this 
a  sample  of  the  college  dinners  of  the  present 
day?  ” 

“  I  am  sure  I  don’t  know,”  was  my  reply. 
“  College  dinners  were  not  held  during  the  war, 
and  before  that  time  liquor  had  become  unpopu¬ 
lar  and  had  practically  disappeared  on  such  occa¬ 
sions.” 

For  a  few  moments  the  general  watched  the 
increasing  flow  of  the  law-forbidden  beverage. 
Then  he  turned  to  me  again,  and,  with  intense 
feeling,  said:  “  Don’t  these  men  know  that  they 


136 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


are  defying  the  constitution  of  their  country? 
Don’t  they  realize  that  they  are  trampling  its 
flag  under  their  feet?  Why,  these  are  educated 
men,  those  to  whom  we  look  for  ideals  and  lead¬ 
ership,  those  on  whom  we  must  lean  to  ward  off 
anarchy  and  chaos!  Can’t  they  see  that  by  their 
actions  they  are  breeding  more  Bolsheviks  and 
anarchists  than  all  the  ‘  reds  ’  and  radicals  in  the 
slums  and  on  the  streets  can  possibly  create?  I 
can’t  understand  it,”  he  went  on,  “  and  I  would 
not  have  believed  it  possible  if  I  had  not  wit¬ 
nessed  it  with  my  own  eyes.” 

General  Wood’s  statements  are  altogether 
true.  The  censure  was  deserved.  But  that 
which,  in  those  early  days  of  prohibition,  was 
something  of  a  novelty  has  become  a  common¬ 
place  to-day.  No  sane  person  believes  that  this 
government  of  ours  can  stand  unless  supported 
b}^  a  law-abiding  citizenship.  But  no  sane  per¬ 
son  can  honestly  expect  that  the  manhood  of  to¬ 
morrow,  surrounded  as  it  is  to-day  in  its  plastic 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  137 

youth  by  such  influences  as  these,  will  entertain 
even  a  passing  respect  for  the  law  and  the  consti¬ 
tution  of  the  land. 

In  all  the  multifarious  phases  of  our  modern 
life,  where  the  effects  of  this  self-centered  atti¬ 
tude  and  unwillingness  to  recognize  proper  re¬ 
sponsibilities  to  others  are  so  painfully  apparent, 
nowhere,  I  think,  has  there  been  a  greater  loss  to 
our  boys  than  in  that  phase  which  belongs  to 
woman.  As  my  contacts  have  been  chiefly  with 
boys  may  I  offer  a  special  plea  in  their  behalf  at 
this  point. 

The  changes  which  have  taken  place  of  late  in 
woman’s  realm,  and  bv  which  her  horizon  has 
been  so  greatly  enlarged  and  her  activities  so 
widely  increased,  have  changed  significantly  the 
character  of  society.  Woman  has  gained  much 
by  these  changes,  much  that  is  deserved,  much 
that  was  long  overdue.  That  much  all  of  us 
must  frankly  admit.  But  with  the  gains  there 
have  come  losses,  unnecessary  perhaps,  but  in  the 


138 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


realm  of  boyhood,  at  least,  very  real  and  very 
greatly  to  be  deplored. 

Throughout  the  passing  years  the  sanctity  at¬ 
taching  to  the  name  of  woman  has  been  a  price¬ 
less  possession  of  the  youth  of  the  sterner  sex. 
Its  influence  has  proved  always  a  restraint  on 
ignoble  action,  a  check  on  unworthy  impulse  and 
desire,  and  a  stimulus  to  chivalry  and  idealism, — 
those  choicest  qualities  of  youth  in  the  history  of 
the  world’s  civilization.  Again,  the  influence  is 
hard  to  define.  But  to  those  who  can,  for  the 
moment,  put  themselves  back  into  the  days  of 
their  own  boyhood  my  meaning  will  be  clear. 
Whether  rightly  or  wrongly  we  looked  on  woman 
as  an  ideal,  as  an  inspiration,  as  a  challenge; 
something  set  apart  from  the  ordinary  dirt  and 
dust  of  the  world  to  guide  and  inspire  us;  some¬ 
thing  that  steadied  and  strengthened  us  in  our 
hardest  fights  in  those  days  when  we  were  strug¬ 
gling  for  self-control  and  manhood.  Sometimes 
it  was  womankind  as  a  whole,  sometimes  an  in- 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  139 


dividual  over  whose  head  we  had  set  our  bovish 
halo ;  but  always  the  influence  was  there ;  whole¬ 
some,  strong,  uplifting,  it  stood  between  us  and 
the  unworthy  deed  we  were  tempted  to  do.  It 
drove  from  our  minds  the  base  thoughts  that  so 
frequently  showed  their  ugly  heads.  It  urged 
us  to  place  in  complete  control  the  best  that  was 
in  us.  It  stood  as  an  ever-present  challenge  to  all 
that  was  noble  but  so  often  concealed. 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  our  bovs  to-dav  can 
find  in  their  friends  of  the  other  sex  the  old-time 
inspiration  and  appeal.  If  in  her  change  of  so¬ 
cial  status  woman  has  lost  those  qualities  and 
characteristics  that  in  all  ages  have  been  an  in- 
spiration  to  chivalry  and  high  manhood,  the  loss 
is  irreparable.  Once  let  our  bovs  believe  that 
woman  is  not  worthy  of  their  confidence,  their 
respect,  and  their  reverence,  we  shall  search  in 
vain  for  anything  that  can  make  good  the  loss. 
That  something  has  been  lost  already,  is  clear. 
How  far  any  gains  will  offset  this  loss  will  not 


140 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


perhaps  be  apparent  until  those  who  are  boys  and 
girls  to-day  shall  have  become  the  men  and 
women  of  to-morrow. 

To  what  extent  that  influence  is  appreciated 
by  the  representatives  of  the  other  sex  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say.  But  that  its  existence  was 
resented  by  any  had  never  occurred  to  me  until 
very  recently.  I  had  supposed  that  women 
gloried  in  it.  Their  actions  seemed  to  lend  color 
to  this  belief.  But  as  one  of  the  older  generation 
I  fear  that  I  am  no  longer  competent  to  form 
opinions  about  the  modern  representatives  of  the 
other  sex. 

A  city  newspaper  was  once  rash  enough  to 
print  something  I  had  said  on  this  subject  before 
a  local  college  club.  Several  days  later  I  re¬ 
ceived  a  unique  and  somewhat  remarkable  letter 
from  a  very  modern  lady,  who  took  me  sharply 
to  task  for  my  remarks,  and  told  me  in  plain  and 
emphatic  language  how  thoroughly  incompetent 
she  considered  me  to  discuss  the  subject.  Parts 


DISCIPLINE  YS.  SELFISHNESS  141 

of  this  interesting  letter  deserve  wider  publicity, 
and  I  venture,  therefore,  to  give  them  to  my 
readers. 

44  It  is  impossible  a  man  of  your  age,”  she  writes, 
44  should  be  unaware  that  the  gorgeous  bloom  of  social 
immorality  you  deplore,  and  which  the  returning  young 
soldier  beholds  with  astonishment,  is  the  blossom  and 
fruit  of  a  plant  of  age-long  growth.  Why  did  you  not 
point  out,  my  dear  Doctor,  that  the  trouble  is  not  so 
much  a  lack  of  religion,  but  rather  the  dawning  of  that 
inevitable  day  of  which  warning  was  given  many  cen¬ 
turies  ago :  4  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  also  shall 
he  reap.’  Remember  the  promise:  4  Give  and  it  shall  be 
given  unto  you ;  good  measure,  pressed  down,  and  shaken 
together,  and  running  over.’  Bear  in  mind  that  a  great 
writer  once  uttered  the  truth  when  he  wrote :  4  The 
whirligig  of  time  brings  in  its  revenges.’  You  and  your 
audience  faced  the  fulfilling  of  those  promises. 

did  you  not  tell  those 
the  troubles  lay  in  the  fact  that  their  fathers  ate  sour 
grapes  throughout  the  ages  and  for  that  reason  their 
teeth  are  now  on  edge?  Why  did  you  not  address  them 
after  this  fashion:  4  The  men  built  up,  for  their  own 
pleasure  and  profit,  laws  unjust  to  women, — standards 
and  habits  and  customs  unjust  to  women.  This  has 
been  a  man-made  world,  and  run  for  the  benefit  of  the 
men.  They  sowed  the  wind;  you,  my  young  friends, 


boys  that  the  root  of 


142 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF,  YOUTH 


and  I  stand  by,  and  experience  the  force  of  the  inevi¬ 
table  whirlwind.’  I  cannot  see  that  men  to-day,  on  the 
whole,  are  inwardly  much  better,  or  much  worse,  than 
were  their  forebears.  There  is  ever  a  fashion  in  morals, 
as  in  hats  or  coats.  This  present  spell  }rou  deplore  is 
a  woman’s  revolution.  Unless  you  care  to  emulate 
Canute  of  old,  the  best  advice  I  have  to  offer  is  to  await 
the  passing  of  this  righteous  hurricane,  and  trust  that 
the  promise,  6  At  eventide  it  shall  be  light,’  may  be  ful¬ 
filled. 

“  A  great  deal  goes  to  make  up  the  girl  of  the 
period,  and  to  explain  her  raison  d’etre,  besides  her  short 
skirt,  cigarette  case,  painted  face,  and  lack  of  restraint. 
The  evolution  of  the  face-mask  our  great-grandmothers 
wore,  so  that  their  faces  might  not  be  deprived  of  their 
marketable  value,  is  the  short  skirt  and  the  rolled  stock¬ 
ing. 

“  If  the  girls  unduly  seek  pleasure  and  diversion, 
remember  the  dull,  deadly  monotonous,  dreary  drabness 
of  the  lives  of  generations  of  women  from  whom  they 
descended.  Had  the  centuries  held  for  them  less  jam¬ 
making  and  fewer  children,  and  more  fox-hunting, 
cock-fighting,  rat-baiting,  and  gambling,  the  movies, 
dancing,  and  hundreds  of  enticing  pleasures  would  not 
to-day  prove  so  alluring  to  their  descendants.  If  those 
St.  Paul  terms  4  the  weaker  vessels  ’  had  partaken  of  the 
fine  Burgundy,  rum,  and  Madeira  imported  for  the  sole 
consumption  of  paterfamilias,  and  at  times  joined  him 
beneath  the  dining-room  table,  possibly  your  young  sol- 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  143 


dier  .  .  .  might  not  now  be  deploring  6  the  number 

of  girls  under  its  influence  to-day.’  .  .  .  You  say 

of  influence :  4  I  mean  parents  who  are  ready  to  make 
sacrifices.’  Throughout  the  ages  the  mother  has  been 
an  eternal  sacrifice  to  her  husband,  her  children,  and  her 
home.  If  she  is  so  no  longer,  she  is  in  a  state  of  rebellion. 
Something  age-long  has  occasioned  it.  Metaphorically 
speaking,  she  puts  on  her  hat  evenings  and  goes  out 
4  to  the  lodge.’  You  speak  of  parents  ” — I  think  she 
meant  to  say  44  men  ” — 44  who  have  a  belief  in  the 
modesty  and  purity  of  womankind  as  a  whole,  and  say: 
4  Those  are  the  things  we  anchor  to,  and  you  know  that 
we  cannot  anchor  to  those  things  to-day  as  we  used  to.’ 
Possibly  not,  and  I  think  I  can  tell  why.  The  women 
are  tired  of  having  the  men  anchor  to  their  purity,  and 
place  their  hope  of  heaven  in  woman’s  skirts. 

The  root  of  the  evil  called  4  divorce  ’  Adam  planted  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden.  Divorce  is  a  symptom  not  a  dis¬ 
ease.  In  the  good  old  days  of  the  religious  home  .  .  . 

laws  and  customs  favored  immorality;  the  Church 
winked  at  it,  and  preached  the  subjection  of  woman.  I 
might  remark  in  passing  that  the  -woman  of  to-day  and 
St.  Paul  are  slightly  out  of  harmony.  Mary  to-day 
places  her  erring  spouse  on  the  curbstone  and  shuts  the 
matrimonial  door.  She  thereby  adjusts  her  own  score, 
and  incidentally  that  of  generations  of  her  female  fore¬ 
bears.  Do  you  blame  her  if  she  seeks  a  steadier  anchor, 
indulging  in  what  Dr.  Johnson  calls  4  the  triumph  of 
hope  over  experience.’ 


144 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


“  The  Bible,  my  dear  Dr.  Stearns,  must  be  revised  and 
reinterpreted,  if  you  expect  response  from  the  girl  of 
to-day.  The  mosaic  ox  and  ass,  as  compabuibs,  make 
scant  appeal.  St.  Paul’s  theories  concerning  woman, 
her  relation  to  man  and  the  Church,  are  out  of  date. 
Woman  is  the  keynote  of  the  situation.  Had  I  ad¬ 
dressed  that - Club,  those  boys  would  have  heard 

a  number  of  wholesome  truths  and  without  an\r  sugar 
coating.” 

I  have  read  this  interesting  letter  many  times. 
It  contains  a  wealth  of  food  for  serious  thought. 
The  writer  has  convictions,  and  the  commendable 
courage  to  defend  them.  I  am  told  that  she 
enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  something  of  a 
leader  in  the  feminist  movement  of  the  present 
dav.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not,  she  undoubtedly 
gives  voice  to  the  feelings  and  beliefs  of  those  who 
to-day  are  vigorously  championing  that  cause. 
For  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  her  contentions 
should  be  studied.  She  signs  herself  “  Mrs.” 
She  is  a  wife  then;  perhaps,  a  mother. 

Mv  first  reaction  on  reading  this  unusual  docu- 
ment  was  one  of  unfeigned  amusement.  But 


DISCIPLINE  YS.  SELFISHNESS  145 


while  the  smile  still  lingered  there  flashed  across 
my  mind  in  arresting  contrast  the  picture  of  a 
mother  I  had  known  of  the  older,  and  now  some¬ 
what  discredited,  generation. 

She  was  born  on  a  New  Hampshire  farm,  this 
old-fashioned  girl,  where  she  grew  up  close  to 
nature  and  in  daily  contact  with  the  “  dull,  deadly 
monotonous,  dreary  drabness  ”  of  the  life  of  the 
mother  who  bore  her,  and  of  that  of  her  women 
friends.  It  was  an  old-fashioned  home,  with 
many  children.  4 4  Cock-fighting,  rat-baiting,  and 
gambling,”  for  some  reason,  had  not  yet  become 
a  part  of  the  family  regime  to  broaden  the  vision 
of  woman  and  free  her  from  age-long  shackles; 
and  the  “  weaker  vessels  ”  seemingly  had  no  op¬ 
portunity  or  desire  to  4 4  join  paterfamilias  be¬ 
neath  the  dining-room  table  ”  after  partaking  of 
“  fine  Burgundy,  rum,  and  Madeira.”  A  care¬ 
ful  perusal  of  the  family  records  brings  to  light 
no  evidence  that  the  mother  in  this  old-time  home 
was  accustomed  to  “  put  on  her  hat  evenings  and 


146 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


go  out  to  the  lodge,”  either  for  her  own  amuse¬ 
ment  or  for  the  sake  of  “  adjusting  her  own 
score  ”  or  “  that  of  generations  of  her  female 
forebears.”  Nor  is  there  in  the  record  any  sug¬ 
gestion  that  this  sadly  unenlightened  mother 
found  in  her  “  eternal  sacrifice  to  her  husband, 
her  children,  and  her  home  ”  anything  more  than 
a  God-given  privilege  and  joy. 

Y^et  in  spite  of  these  frightful  handicaps  the 
young  girl  grew  up,  and  seemingly  into  a  young 
womanhood  of  beauty  and  charm.  At  least  so 
thought  a  young  and  adventurous-spirited  fellow 
from  a  neighboring  city  who  sought  and  won  her 
hand,  and  who,  a  year  or  two  later,  carried  her 
away  to  the  home  he  had  prepared  for  her  in  far- 
away  and  Sunnv  India. 

Wealth  and  success  came  rapidly  to  this  happy 
couple,  and,  with  them,  that  which  they  counted 
their  greatest  joy  of  all,  an  old-fashioned  family 
of  seven  children.  The  home,  presided  over  and 
graced  by  the  presence  of  a  hostess  to  whom  had 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  147 


been  denied  the  privilege  of  living  at  “  the  dawn¬ 
ing  of  that  inevitable  day  of  which  warning  was 
given  many  centuries  ago,”  became  the  center  of 
the  social  and  intellectual  life  of  the  Far  Eastern 
citv  on  the  outskirts  of  which  it  was  located. 
British  viceroys,  army  and  navy  officers  from 
many  lands,  distinguished  travelers,  native  rajahs 


and  princes, — all  found  in  that  home  a  friendly 
welcome  and  passed  many  happy  hours  within  its 
Avails.  Da\rid  Livingstone,  the  great  explorer, 
made  it  his  headquarters  before  his  memorable 
departure  into  the  African  wilderness. 

The  mistress  of  this  home  cherished  warmly  a 
belief,  translated  into  daily  thought  and  action, 
in  old-fashioned  religion.  For  her  the  44  Bible  ” 
had  neither  been  44  rewised  ”  nor  44  reinterpreted.” 
In  it  she  found  all  that  she  desired  to  guide  in 
daily  life,  to  comfort  in  time  of  sorrow,  and  to 
strengthen  in  moments  of  adversity.  In  spite  of 
the  many  interests  of  her  active  life  her  thoughts 
Avere  ahvavs  and  chieflv  of  those  children  Avhich 


148 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


she  counted  her  greatest  blessing.  And  in  those 
days  of  material  prosperity,  while  yet  no  cloud 
dimmed  the  financial  skies,  daily  on  her  knees  she 
prayed  to  her  heavenly  Father  that  if  the  wealth 
with  which  she  had  been  so  signally  blessed  might 
work  some  later  harm  on  the  characters  of  her 
children  it  should  be  taken  away. 

How  strangely  must  such  a  prayer  fall  on  the 
ears  of  our  modem  world ! 

And  at  length  the  clouds  did  gather.  Higher 
and  blacker  they  piled  than  even  this  brave  and 
unselfish  mother  could  have  dreamed.  Within 
the  brief  space  of  a  few  weeks  fortune,  and  the 
husband  and  father  too,  had  gone  from  her  life. 
But  faith  and  courage  were  equal  to  the  great 
test.  With  superb  heroism  the  stricken  mother 
turned  her  back  on  the  old  life  and  scenes,  and, 
with  unshaken  trust  in  the  wisdom  of  Almighty 
God,  faced  the  new  and  unknown  future. 

A  brief  experience  as  a  teacher  in  earlier  days 
prompted  her  to  open  a  private  school  for  girls. 


DISCIPLINE  YS.  SELFISHNESS  149 


To  give  her  children,  the  youngest  still  a  baby, 
the  education  which,  in  the  days  of  prosperity, 
had  been  planned  for  them,  was  her  absorbing 
ambition.  Year  after  year  she  labored  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  unselfish  aim.  Sacrifice 
was  her  daily  lot,  and  the  stern  discipline  of  an 
exacting  world  faced  her  at  every  turn.  One 
after  another  four  of  the  children  for  whom  she 
struggled  were  taken  from  her,  and  in  the  prime 
of  their  lives.  But  she  never  wavered,  this  old- 
fashioned  mother,  nor  lost  her  faith  that  all  was 
well.  To  the  world  she  held  her  head  as  high  as 
ever;  and  to  her  friends  and  family  she  was  still 
the  same  inexhaustible  source  of  strength  and 
comfort  and  cheer.  And  after  twenty-five  years 
of  ceaseless  effort  she  had  completed  her  seem¬ 
ingly  impossible  task. 

The  “  state  of  rebellion  ”  in  which  the  modern 
woman  would  have  us  believe  true  happiness  can 
alone  be  found,  was  never  dreamed  of  by  this 
mother  of  whom  I  write;  vet  she  fairlv  radiated 


J50 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


happiness  wherever  she  went.  Her  children, 
knowing  well  where  and  when  the  springs  of  her 
deep  humor  could  best  be  uncovered,  would  some¬ 
times  twit  her  good-naturedly  over  her  unpar¬ 
donable  offence  in  failing  to  consult  them  per¬ 
sonally  before  asking  the  Almighty  to  take  away 
the  inheritance  that  would  have  been  theirs. 
Then  merriment  would  dance  from  those  eves, 
and  the  lips  would  twitch  with  uncontrollable 
mirth.  The  worthless  scion  of  some  wealthy 
home  would  be  pictured  in  language  that  left 
nothing  to  the  imagination,  and  the  protesting 
children  would  be  assured  that  this  would  doubt¬ 
less  have  been  their  fate  had  not  a  far-seeing 
Providence  interfered  in  their  behalf.  As  life’s 
sunset  drew  near,  the  faith  that  had  never  de¬ 
serted  her  seemed  to  burn  with  an  ever-brighten¬ 
ing  flame,  the  courage  that  had  sustained  when 
life’s  road  was  roughest  increased  in  strength,  the 
humor  still  flashed  from  dimming  eyes,  and  the 
happiness,  which  had  always  been  so  radiantly 


DISCIPLINE  VS.  SELFISHNESS  151 


hers,  catching  now  the  rich  coloring  of  the  even¬ 
ing  skies,  reflected  the  unseen  but  brighter  glories 
of  another  world. 

Perhaps  an  “  old  fogy  ”  may  be  pardoned 
for  suggesting  that  in  such  a  contrast  as  this  there 
is  something  still  to  be  said  for  the  old-fashioned 
woman  of  an  earlier  day.  Such  mothers  there 
still  are,  God  bless  them !  But  they  are  not  those 
who  fill  the  air  with  noisy  clamor  about  “  rights  ” 
and  “  privileges  not  those  who  shun  life’s  dis¬ 
cipline  and  shrink  from  sacrifice;  not  those  to 
whom  “  self-expression  ”  means  only  the  indul¬ 
gence  of  selfish  desires  and  the  gratification  of 
personal  whims.  If  the  modern  woman,  freed 
from  what  she  regards  as  the  shackles  of  the 
former  days,  can  still  give  us  mothers  of  the  old 
heroic  kind,  we  shall  rejoice  with  her  in  her  new¬ 
found  freedom  and  still  render  her  the  homage 
that  chivalry  prompts.  If  she  cannot  or  does  not, 
whatever  may  be  her  personal  gain,  civilization 
will  have  lost  something  for  which  no  other  com- 


152 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


pensation  will  suffice.  And  youth  will  have  lost 
its  noblest  inspiration  and  its  strongest  support. 

In  one  of  his  well-known  war  stories  Private 
Pete  has  put  into  gripping  words  the  feelings  of 
reverence  and  adoration  which  the  youth  of  the 
sterner  sex,  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  heart, 
has  always  cherished  towards  women:  “  Out  to 
France  we  go  for  Flag  and  Country.  Over  the 
top  we  go  for  Mother.  And  4  mother  ’ — that  one 
simple  word — embraces  the  whole  of  woman¬ 
hood. 


PART  SEVEN 


CONCLUSION 


‘  ‘  Who  sleeps  beneath  yon  bannered  mounds, 
The  proudly  sorrowing  mourner  seeks, 

The  garland-bearing  crowd  surrounds  ? 

A  light-haired  boy  with  beardless  cheeks ! 
’Tis  time  this  fallen  world  should  rise : 

Let  youth  the  sacred  work  begin ! 

What  nobler  task,  what  fairer  prize 
Than  earth  to  save  and  Heaven  to  win?” 


PART  SEVEN 


CONCLUSION 

DISTRACTED  world  calls  loudly  to¬ 
day  for  leadership.  It  has  not  prospered 


of  late  under  the  guidance  of  an  older  generation, 


and  it  looks  to  youth,  with  its  undimmed  visions 


and  potential  power,  to  set  it  right. 

A  friend  of  mine  who  returned  not  long  ago 
from  Italy  has  described  in  vivid  language  an 
experience  which  he  had  there  soon  after  the  close 
of  the  Great  War.  He  was  present  at  a  great 
meeting  in  an  opera  house  in  a  large  Italian  city. 
The  distinguished  educator  and  philosopher, 
Giovanni  Gentile,  was  addressing  the  audience. 
He  was  pleading  for  higher  moral  standards  for 
his  nation.  He  spoke  with  feeling  of  the  seem¬ 
ing  breakdown  of  those  moral  standards  that  had 


155 


156 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


governed  in  the  past,  and  the  dimming  of  those 
ethical  and  spiritual  ideals  in  which  alone  stability 
was  to  be  found.  He  asked  for  nobler  living 
and  clearer  thinking,  for  the  maintenance  of 
finer  honor  and  truer  justice  in  the  relations  of 
individuals  and  in  those  of  the  nations  of  the 
world.  As  he  spoke  he  apparently  noticed  on 
the  faces  of  some  of  his  audience  expressions  de¬ 
noting  cynicism  and  doubt.  For  a  moment  he 
paused  and  his  face  showed  the  intensity  of  his 
feelings.  Raising  his  hands  aloft  and  with  dra¬ 
matic  earnestness,  he  cried:  “  I  am  not  speaking 
to  the  older  generation.  The  mind  of  the  older 
generation  has  broken  down.  I  make  my  appeal 
to  youth,  and  youth  will  hear  and  answer  me.” 

He  was  right.  Youth  will  hear  and  answer, 
and  gladly,  as  it  has  always  done  if  the  appeal 
is  clear  and  strong  and  high. 

The  war  gave  us  evidence  enough  of  this  truth. 
Here  in  America  we  had  constant  illustrations. 
It  was  youth  that  first  saw  the  real  issues  at 


CONCLUSION 


157 


stake.  It  was  youth  that  caught  the  first  vision 
of  a  needy  and  distressed  humanity  calling 
loudly  for  help.  It  was  youth  that  first  sensed 
the  truth — that  justice  and  honor  and  righteous¬ 
ness  were  the  stakes  in  that  great  contest.  Youth 
did  not  stop  to  count  the  cost.  Youth  offered 
everything,  even  its  life,  that  the  great  and  neces¬ 
sary  end  might  be  attained  for  humanity.  It 
was  the  older  generation  that  quibbled  and  ques¬ 
tioned.  It  was  the  older  generation  that  sought 
security  in  the  cowardly  answer  of  Cain  of  old, 
“  Am  I  my  brother’s  keeper?  ”  It  was  the  older 
generation  that  tried  to  hide  itself  in  the  shadows 
of  its  own  selfish  complacency,  and  answered,  like 
Adam  in  the  Garden,  “  I  was  afraid  and  went 
and  hid  myself.”  It  was  the  older  generation 
that  shrank  from  the  thought  of  personal  and  ma¬ 
terial  and  national  loss.  The  early  call  of  duty 
awakened  faint  response  in  the  hearts  of  those 
of  maturer  years.  It  found  its  prompt  and 
courageous  answer  in  the  heart  of  youth. 


158 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


Youth  is  still  endowed  with  the  heroic  spirit 
it  has  always  known,  nor  does  it  need  the  crisis 
of  some  great  world  war  to  awaken  that  spirit  to 
action.  It  accepts  the  challenge  in  daily  life,  if 
only  the  challenge  is  vigorous  and  its  real  mean¬ 
ing  clear.  It  will  not  hesitate  and  it  will  not 
shirk  when  once  assured  that  the  call  to  action  is 
the  divine  call  of  duty.  It  will  respond  in  a  crisis 
as  those  brave  Yale  boys  did  at  the  New  Haven 
fire,  and  it  will  respond,  too,  in  the  more  obscure 
activities  of  common  life.  Though  the  service 
demanded  may  require  the  sacrifice  of  life  itself, 
it  will  ansvrer  bravely  and  cheerfully  in  the  words 
of  Allen  Keith,  “  I  have  no  regrets.” 

Many  incidents  in  my  ov7n  experience  come  to 
my  mind  as  I  ponder  on  this  theme,  some  common¬ 
place,  some  unusual,  but  all  testifying  in  unmis¬ 
takable  terms  to  the  presence  in  youth  of  clear 
visions  and  the  readiness  to  realize  those  visions 
if  given  a  fair  chance.  Once  the  path  has  been 
chosen,  youth  will  outstrip  us  in  the  race  for  the 


CONCLUSION 


159 


goal.  It  will  shame  us,  too,  in  its  readiness  to 
invest  its  all. 

Several  years  ago  it  seemed  wise  to  the  authori¬ 
ties  of  my  school  to  abolish  altogether  dances  un¬ 
der  the  school  roof.  The  extravagances  and  ec¬ 
centricities  which  had  so  rapidly  and  strangely 
developed  in  this  ordinarily  pleasant  pastime  had 
become  so  pronounced  as  to  make  it  clear  that 
only  drastic  measures  could  check  them  and  re¬ 
store  normalcy.  For  two  years  the  ban  held. 
Criticisms  and  complaints  and  petitions  for 
restoration  were  many,  and,  at  times,  emphatic. 
Finally  there  came  a  time  when  it  seemed  wise  to 
test  the  boys  themselves. 

It  happened  that  those  who  would  naturally  be 
in  charge  at  the  time  comprised  a  group  of  fel¬ 
lows  of  unusual  poise  and  strength  of  character. 
We  had  several  conferences.  I  had  made  up  my 

mind  that  until  the  bovs  admitted  the  true  char- 

%/ 

acter  of  the  dangers  involved  I  would  give  them 
no  inkling  of  my  attitude.  The  point  desired 


160 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


was  finally  reached;  with  perfect  candor  the  boys 
admitted  even  more  than  I  was  ready  to  grant 
myself.  Then  they  took  an  interesting  position. 
They  argued,  and  convincingly,  that  no  one 
stood  in  a  better  position  than  they  themselves 
to  apply  needed  remedies.  “  If  we  can  run  a 
dance  to  your  complete  satisfaction,”  they  said, 
“  and  can  prove  to  ourselves  as  well  that  the  thing 
can  be  done,  isn’t  the  undertaking  worth  while? 
Won’t  we  be  in  a  position  also  to  help  straighten 
things  out  in  college  and  in  society  as  the  result 
of  our  test?  ” 

This  seemed  the  time  to  act.  Somewhat  to 
their  surprise,  I  announced  myself  ready  to  grant 
the  request  and  to  place  squarely  on  their  shoul¬ 
ders  the  full  responsibility.  For  a  moment  they 
were  a  bit  disconcerted,  for  they  had  expected 
help  and  guidance  from  me.  I  told  them  frankly 
that  I  preferred  to  leave  the  matter  in  their 
hands,  but,  at  their  request,  I  agreed  to  check 
over  with  them  in  advance  any  regulations  which 


CONCLUSION 


161 


they  might  deem  essential.  A  day  or  two  later 
they  presented  to  me  a  paper  which  they  had 
carefully  prepared,  and  in  which  they  had  out¬ 
lined  in  detail  the  rules  which  they  proposed  to 
enforce.  As  I  first  glanced  at  them  it  was  diffi¬ 
cult  to  retain  self-control.  Later  in  the  evening, 
after  the  boys  had  left,  I  sat  down  in  the  quiet 
of  my  study  and  made  free  use  of  my  blue  pencil. 
Frankly,  if  I  had  undertaken  myself  to  prepare 
and  enforce  such  regulations  as  those  submitted, 
I  should  have  invited  a  riot.  The  boys  had  out¬ 
done  me,  and  by  a  wide  margin. 

The  dance  was  held;  the  regulations  were  en¬ 
forced  to  the  letter.  The  committee  themselves 
took  no  part  in  the  actual  dancing,  so  eager  were 
they  to  carry  the  affair  through  to  a  successful 
conclusion.  Again  and  again  during  the  evening 
they  would  slip  to  my  corner  of  the  room  and 
ask  if  I  had  any  criticisms  to  offer.  I  had  none. 
Parents  who  were  present,  many  of  whom  had 
come  from  long  distances  and  were  thoroughly 


1G2 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


familiar  with  the  character  of  dancing  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  assured  me  that  if  they  had 
not  witnessed  it  with  their  own  eyes,  they  would 
not  have  believed  it  possible  for  a  dance  to  be 
conducted  as  was  this  one.  When  the  affair  was 
over,  boys  and  girls  alike  united  in  acclaiming 
it  the  best  dance  they  had  ever  attended. 

Incidents  like  this  are  common  in  the  life  of 
every  headmaster.  To  me,  personally,  the  ex¬ 
perience  was  one  of  the  most  gratifying  I  have 
ever  known;  nor  was  its  influence  limited,  for 
from  several  sources  since  that  time  I  have  heard 
of  similar  activities  on  the  part  of  these  same 
boys  to  whom  had  been  brought  home  the  realiza¬ 
tion  that  they  had  accomplished  something  ac¬ 
tually  needed  and  distinctly  worth  while. 

It  might  not  be  out  of  place  here,  in  view  of 
earlier  remarks  that  have  been  made  on  the  value 
of  discipline,  to  note  the  fact  that  the  boy  in 
charge,  and  on  whom  the  chief  responsibility 
rested,  had  three  years  before  been  suspended 


CONCLUSION 


163 


from  the  school  for  a  violation  of  school  regula¬ 
tions.  At  the  time  his  father  had  entered  a  vig¬ 
orous  protest  against  the  severity  of  our  action. 
In  this  particular  case  the  boy,  with  greater  sense 
and  vision  than  his  parent,  had  protested  in  the 
latter’s  presence  against  the  plea  for  clemency. 
He  had  accepted  the  situation  like  a  man,  and  it 
had  given  the  final  touch  to  that  stability  of  char¬ 
acter  which  had  made  him,  at  the  close  of  his 
school  course,  one  of  the  most  influential  factors 
in  the  student  life,  and  one  of  the  most  depend¬ 
able  boys  on  whom  it  has  ever  been  my  privilege 
to  lean. 

Youth  sometimes  challenges  us  under  condi¬ 
tions  which  startle  us  and  shame  us  into  a  sense  of 
our  failure  to  appreciate  potential  power  and  our 
inability  to  recognize  how  close  to  the  surface, 
even  undermost  adverse  conditions,  lies  that  ever¬ 
present  spiritual  vision  so  eager  and  ready  to 
find  its  realization  in  the  ordinary  activities  of 
daily  life.  A  striking  example  of  this  has  taught 


164 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


me  more  than  all  the  other  experiences  of  my 
years  as  a  schoolmaster. 

A  few  years  before  the  Great  War  a  young 
fellow  entered  the  school  fresh  from  the  environ¬ 
ment  of  a  small  New  England  mill  town.  His 
parents  had  come  to  this  country  from  England 
when  he  was  but  a  little  chap,  and  had  been  mill- 
workers  all  their  lives.  Limited  from  necessity 
in  their  own  education,  they  had  definite  ambi- 
tions  for  their  children.  Learning  that  he  could 
work  his  way  through  the  school,  the  boy  had 
come  to  us  prepared  to  undertake  the  task.  He 
stayed  with  us  three  years,  developing  in  the 
meantime  a  distinct  talent  in  English  literature. 
He  entered  Brown  University  and  there  dis- 
played  still  further  gifts  of  this  same  character, 
until,  at  the  close  of  his  course,  he  was  deemed 
worthy  to  be  called  back  to  his  college  as  an 
instructor  in  English  literature.  While  he  was 
serving  in  this  capacity  war  was  declared,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  enlist.  Shortly  after  his 

•j 


CONCLUSION 


1G5 


arrival  in  France,  and  while  serving  as  a  lieuten¬ 
ant,  he  met  a  gallant  death  in  action. 

Not  many  weeks  later  the  father  called  to  see 
me,  and  to  secure  the  boy’s  diploma  which  had 
been  left  in  our  keeping.  As  we  walked  down 
across  the  campus  late  one  afternoon,  we  paused 
under  the  shadows  of  an  elm  tree,  and  the  father, 
with  deep  feeling,  unburdened  his  heart  to  me. 
“  You  know,  Mr.  Stearns,”  he  said  simply,  “  the 
loss  of  that  boy  means  more  to  us  than  others  can 
ever  understand.  I  suppose  all  parents  would 
say  that,”  he  added  apologetically,  “  but  in  Eg¬ 
bert’s  case  it  is  different,  and  I  will  tell  you  why. 

“  You  know  when  he  was  in  school  how  he  de¬ 
veloped  a  love  for  English  literature.  Gosh,  how 
he  did  love  his  Shakespeare!  Well,  he  used  to 
come  home  Saturday  nights  to  spend  the  week¬ 
ends  with  us,  and  he  would  come  bounding  into 
the  room  where  we  were  sitting,  smoking  and 
gossiping  and  whiling  away  the  time  with  our 
friends,  and  he  would  almost  shout,  4  Oh,  I  want 


166 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


you  to  hear  this  great  passage  I  found  in  Shake¬ 
speare  this  week.’  Not  many  of  those  people 
knew  much  about  Shakespeare,”  said  the  old 
man  with  a  touch  of  humor,  “  and  the  pros¬ 
pect  of  listening  to  a  passage  from  Shake¬ 
speare  did  not  appeal  very  much  to  them. 
Some  were  a  bit  restless  and  some  were  ready  to 
leave;  but  Egbert  wouldn’t  have  it.  He  would 
laugh  and  say,  ‘  No,  you  can’t  go;  you  have  got 
to  hear  this  passage  and  you  are  going  to  like  it.’ 
And  then  he  would  read  to  them. 

“  And  so  it  went  from  week  to  week.  Alwavs 
he  would  come  home,  bounding  into  the  room  and 
eager  to  read  them  a  passage  from  the  Shake¬ 
speare  that  he  loved.  And  by  and  by  they  didn’t 
show  any  more  restlessness.  Pretty  soon  others 
began  to  drop  in,  and,  before  the  year  was  over, 
the  room  would  be  crowded  on  Saturday  nights, 
waiting  for  Egbert  to  come  home  and  read  them 
Shakespeare.  Gosh,”  said  the  father  fervently, 


it  was  great. 


CONCLUSION 


1G7 


4 4  And  then  he  went  to  Brown  University  and 
there  he  developed  a  love  for  Browning,  just  as 
he  had  developed  in  school  his  love  for  Shake¬ 
speare,  and  again  he  would  come  home  for  the 
week-ends,  and,  bounding  into  the  room  as  be¬ 
fore,  he  would  say,  4  Oh,  I  want  you  to  hear  this 
wonderful  passage  I  found  in  Browning  coming 
up  on  the  train  from  Providence  to-day.’  ”  The 
father  chuckled.  44  Browning  was  pretty  stiff,” 
he  said,  “for  that  crowd,  and  the  old  restlessness 
once  more  appeared;  but,  just  as  before,  Egbert 
wouldn’t  stand  for  that,  and  he  would  say,  4  No, 
you  have  got  to  stay  and  hear  it,  and  you  are 
going  to  like  it,  just  as  you  did  the  Shakespeare.’ 
And  then  the  same  thing  happened  as  before; 
the  restlessness  disappeared;  more  neighbors 
drifted  in;  and,  before  the  year  was  over,  the 
room  would  be  crowded,  and  all  waiting  for  Eg¬ 
bert  to  come  home  and  read  them  Browning.” 

The  old  man  paused  for  a  minute.  Then,  with 
the  tears  starting  in  his  eyes  and  with  dramatic 


168 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


intensity,  he  lifted  his  hands  towards  the  sky  and 
said,  “  Mr.  Stearns,  that  boy  just  lifted  us  up 
into  a  world  we  had  never  known  before.  Gosh, 
but  it  was  great!  ” 

This  incident  has  been  constantly  in  my 
thoughts.  And  the  more  I  have  pondered  on  its 
deep  significance  the  more  strongly  have  I  be¬ 
come  convinced  that  Egbert  Tetle}7,  still  a  youth 
and  blessed  with  the  visions  of  youth,  has  pointed 
out  the  path,  and  the  only  path  we  can  tread  in 
securit}7,  along  which  we  are  bound  to  go  if  the 
present-day  unrest  among  the  masses  is  to  be 
permanently  quelled.  However  much  the  labor¬ 
ing  man  may  clamor  for  a  better  living,  the  in¬ 
articulate  cry  which  springs  from  the  depths  of 
his  being  is,  after  all,  a  cry  not  for  a  better  living 
but  for  a  better  life;  and  that  life  is  found  not  in 
the  realms  of  the  material  world  but  in  the  realms 
of  the  spirit.  “  Society,”  says  Aristotle,  “  origi¬ 
nates  in  the  need  of  a  livelihood,  but  it  exists  for 
the  sake  of  life.”  Our  modern  world  has  placed 


CONCLUSION 


169 


all  the  emphasis  on  living.  That  emphasis  must 
be  changed. 

The  comment  of  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Workingman’s  Party  in  England  on  the  descrip¬ 
tion  of  “  The  Athenian  Constitution  ”  by  Thu¬ 
cydides  has  deep  significance.  Of  that  classic 
constitution  of  an  ancient  democracy,  the  Greek 
philosopher  writes : 

“  Our  Constitution  is  named  a  democracy  because  it 
is  in  the  hands  not  of  the  few  but  of  the  many.  But 
our  laws  secure  equal  justice  for  all  in  their  private 
disputes,  and  our  public  opinion  welcomes  and  honors 
talent  in  every  branch  of  achievement,  not  for  any  sec¬ 
tional  reason  but  on  grounds  of  excellence  alone.  And 
as  we  give  free  play  to  all  in  our  public  life,  so  we  carry 
the  same  spirit  into  our  daily  relations  with  one  another. 
We  have  no  black  looks  or  angry  words  for  our  neighbor 
if  he  enjoys  himself  in  his  own  way,  and  we  abstain 
from  the  little  acts  of  churlishness  which,  though  they 
leave  no  mark,  yet  cause  annovance  to  those  who  note 
them.  Open  and  friendly  in  our  private  intercourse,  in 
our  public  acts  we  keep  strictly  within  the  control  of 
law.  We  acknowledge  the  restraint  of  reverence ;  we 
are  obedient  to  whomsoever  is  set  in  authority  and  to  the 
laws,  more  especially  to  those  which  offer  protection  to 


170 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


the  oppressed  and  those  unwritten  ordinances  whose 
transgression  brings  admitted  shame.” 

And  the  English  workingman,  voicing  the 
deep-seated  longing  of  the  human  heart,  says: 

“  I  believe  that  it  is  this  great  Hellenic  spirit  con¬ 
sciously  or  unconsciously  seeking  expression  which  is  the 
cause  of  the  great  industrial  unrest  of  this  and  other 
lands ;  we  are  not  covetous  for  the  rich  man’s  gold  or 
land,  only  in  so  far  as  we  realize  that  they  are  the 
economic  bases  of  life;  and  it  is  life  that  we  want,  full, 
rich,  free,  and  many-sided.” 

Perhaps  a  schoolmaster  who  is  privileged  to 
come  in  contact  with  such  incidents  as  that  re¬ 
lated  above  may  be  excused  if  he  rebels  with 
some  heat  at  the  kind  of  intellectual  and  moral 
food  we  are  offering  our  boys  and  girls  in  these 
modern  days.  They  ask  for  bread  and  we  give 
them  a  stone.  They  are  hungry  for  meat  and 
we  offer  them  offal.  The  sugar  coating  with 
which  we  conceal  the  poison  within  will  not  pre¬ 
vent  that  poison  from  doing  its  deadly  work. 
Those  who  are  willing,  through  the  medium  of 


CONCLUSION 


171 


the  printed  page,  the  stage,  the  selfish  home,  and 

the  lax  social  life  of  the  time,  to  cater,  for  their 

material  gain  or  personal  comfort,  to  the  weaker 

instincts  of  our  boys  and  girls  are  selling  their 

souls,  and  for  a  frightful  price.  And  those  who 

fail  to  recognize  the  presence  in  youth  of  those 

higher  and  finer  and  spiritual  desires  are  blind 

and  ignorant.  It  is  to  the  youth  of  to-day  that 

the  reforms  of  to-morrow,  so  sadly  needed 

bv  a  distracted  world,  must  be  entrusted. 

«/ 

Youth  to-dav  is  restless.  All  over  the  world 
* 

are  to  be  found  evidences  of  this  fact.  The  at¬ 
tempt  of  the  older  generation  to  straighten  out, 
on  oft-tried  and  unworthv  bases,  the  world  chaos 
resulting  from  the  war,  jars  badly  with  youth’s 
idealism.  The  intangible  verities  of  life  which 
inspired  youth  to  take  up  arms  are  now  inspiring 
him  to  offer  himself  and  his  talents  that  those 
same  and  spiritual  verities  may  be  placed  in  per¬ 
manent  control.  Never  has  youth  faced  a  greater 
opportunity;  and  never  has  youth  needed  more 


172 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


sadly  the  wise  counsel  and  guidance  born  only 
of  experience.  At  heart  youth  knows  this ;  but  the 
counsel  and  guidance  it  desires  do  not  seem  to 
be  coming  just  now  from  the  older  generation, 
who  alone  are  qualified  by  experience  to  give  it. 

Those  who  believe  that  youth,  because  it  has 

vision  and  ideals,  is  capable  of  accomplishing  this 

Herculean  task  without  the  help  supplied  by  the 

experience  of  the  human  race  and  the  aid  of  its 

elders  are  as  blameworthy  as  those  who  refuse  to 

•/ 

recognize  the  inherent  possibilities  of  youth. 
Youth  is  receiving  noisy  and  constant  advice  and 
admonition  to-day,  and  youth  is  naturally  be¬ 
wildered.  It  could  hardly  be  blamed  should  it  in 
despair  seek  to  choose  and  follow  a  path  of  its 
own  making.  If  it  does,  it  will  not  be  from  pref¬ 
erence. 

A  clergyman,  long  known  for  erratic  and  rad¬ 
ical  utterances,  has  recently  added  his  voice  to  the 
discordant  chorus.  If  correctly  quoted,  he  has 
said,  “To  defy  the  counsels  of  the  older  genera- 


CONCLUSION 


173 

tion,  to  act  in  a  spirit  of  rebellion  against  consti¬ 
tuted  and  respectable  authority  is  the  first  duty 
of  youth.”  And  to  make  his  meaning  clearer  this 
champion  of  lawlessness  would  include  the  au¬ 
thority  and  wise  counsel  even  of  parents. 

But  this  is  not  the  cry  of  youth.  W e  must  not 
confuse  youth  with  infancy.  This  is  the  petulant 
cry  of  babyhood.  Youth  will  recognize  it  as  such 
and  will  not  heed  it. 

Youth  must  and  will  retain  its  visions;  it  must 
realize  them  in  the  great  world  in  which  it  is 
called  upon  to  play  its  part.  These  visions  must 
be  kept  clear  and  compelling,  but  youth  must 
keep  its  feet  on  the  ground.  “  Idealism,”  some 
one  has  wisely  said,  “  is  a  mighty  good  thing,  but 
even  aeroplanes  have  little  wheels  on  them  so  that 
they  can  run  on  the  ground  when  necessary.” 
Youth  cannot  safely  break  with  the  past.  It  can¬ 
not  ignore  the  teachings  of  history.  It  cannot 
part  with  human  experience.  It  must  see  for 
itself  the  pitfalls  that  human  progress  has  always 


174 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


encountered  in  its  path.  It  must  recognize  the 
elements  that  have  contributed  to  human  success. 
It  must  profit  by  all  that  the  world  has  taught 
the  passing  generations  of  mankind,  and  it  must 
frankly  acknowledge  the  abiding  presence  of  un¬ 
changing  moral  law. 

“  The  dangerous  age,”  says  an  editorial  writer 
in  one  of  our  daily  newspapers,  “  is  no  longer 
twenty-one  but  forty.”  To-day  youth  challenges 
the  older  generation.  What  answer  are  we  to 
give  to  that  challenge?  Our  first  duty  clearly  is 
to  readjust  our  own  bearings,  reestablish,  if  they 
are  no  longer  there,  in  our  own  lives  the  old  and 
tested  standards  of  human  conduct,  accept  again 
and  gladly,  for  the  welfare  of  ourselves  and  of 
society,  the  dictates  of  moral  and  civil  law,  find 
our  true  and  finest  self-realization  in  the  service 
of  society,  and  acknowledge  our  need  of  and  de¬ 
pendence  upon  Almighty  God.  Once  we  have 
revamped  our  individual  lives  the  distressing  con¬ 
ditions  in  the  social  world  will  disappear.  Then 


CONCLUSION 


175 


and  only  then  shall  we  be  prepared  to  issue  our 
challenge  for  which  youth  to-day  waits.  Home 
and  school  and  Church  must  unite,  that  our  call 
may  be  clear  and  loud  and  easily  understood. 
And  the  call  must  be  that  of  a  moral  and  spir¬ 
itual,  not  a  material,  idealism;  for  only  such  a 
call  will  youth  understand,  and  to  only  such  a  call 
will  youth  respond. 

That  call  must  come  to-day. 

“  Why  worry  about  the  boys?  ”  said  a  friend 
with  whom  I  had  been  discussing  the  incident  of 
the  New  Haven  fire.  “  The  boys  are  all  right.” 
Yes,  the  boys  are  all  right.  But  these  boys  will 
be  men  to-morrow.  And  we  must  not  forget  that 
it  was  the  boys  who  played  the  heroes  in  that 
great  crisis,  the  boys  who  still  retained  the  visions 
and  idealism  of  youth.  The  older  generation,  the 
men  to  whom  the  visions  of  youth  were  already 
lost,  were  fighting  for  their  own  worthless  lives 
in  those  critical  moments,  and  even  at  the  expense 
of  the  lives  of  the  weak  and  helpless  whom  they 


176  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


trod  under  foot.  It  is  the  men  and  the  women 
of  to-morrow  who  demand  our  thoughts  and  our 
service  to-day. 

An  incident  in  the  career  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George, 
the  British  Prime  Minister,  related  by  a  recent 
writer,  seems  to  me  to  offer  us  a  clue  as  to  the 
character  of  the  call  we  must  issue  to  youth  if  we 
are  to  secure  the  response  we  seek. 

It  was  in  the  early  stages  of  the  war.  Co¬ 
ordination  was  everywhere  lacking.  Especially 
was  this  true  among  the  manufacturers  of  am¬ 
munition.  And  this  lack  of  coordination  was 
costing  the  British  government  and  the  Allies 
untold  wealth  in  lives  and  money,  and  threaten¬ 
ing  even  to  make  possible  an  early  victory  for 
German  arms.  In  this  crisis  the  Prime  Minister 
called  a  conference  of  the  heads  of  all  the  muni¬ 
tion  factories  in  the  United  Kingdom.  The  crit¬ 
ical  situation  was  made  clear.  The  compelling 
need  of  close  and  full  cooperation  was  vigorously 
emphasized.  The  manufacturers  were  urged  to 


CONCLUSION 


177 


pool  their  interests,  forget  their  rivalries  and 
jealousies,  and,  for  the  common  good,  reveal  their 
cherished  trade  secrets.  But  they  stolidly  de¬ 
clined.  Their  patriotism  was  appealed  to,  but 
with  no  better  success.  Even  the  clear  explana¬ 
tion  of  threatened  disaster  to  the  cause  of  the 
Allies,  and  the  inevitable  destruction  of  the  Brit¬ 
ish  Empire,  left  them  unmoved.  Hours  of  plead¬ 
ing  accomplished  nothing.  Finally,  when  it 
seemed  that  nothing  could  undermine  the  self¬ 
ishness  of  those  who  had  the  power  to  save  or 
wreck  the  great  cause,  Mr.  Lloyd  George  at- 
tacked  them  from  a  different  angle  and  on  an¬ 
other  and  a  higher  plane.  Leaning  forward  over 
the  table,  and  with  that  dramatic  earnestness 
Avhich  has  characterized  him  in  great  moments  he 
said:  “  Gentlemen,  have  you  forgotten  that  your 
sons  at  this  very  moment  are  being  killed — -killed 
in  hundreds  and  thousands?  They  are  being 
killed  by  German  guns  for  want  of  British  guns. 
Your  sons,  your  brothers — boys  at  the  dawn  of 


178  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


manhood!  They  are  being  wiped  out  of  life  in 
thousands!  Gentlemen,  give  me  guns.  Don’t 
■think  of  your  trade  secrets.  Think  of  your  chil¬ 
dren.  Help  them.  Give  me  those  guns.” 

Before  that  moral  appeal  selfishness  collapsed; 
material  interests  were  forgotten;  jealousies  dis¬ 
appeared.  Trade  secrets  were  thrown  upon  the 
table,  interests  were  pooled  for  the  common  good, 
and  from  that  moment  a  steadily  increasing  sup¬ 
ply  of  arms  turned  the  tide  of  battle  and  assured 
final  success  to  the  Allied  cause. 

So  our  appeal  to  youth  must  be  on  the  higher 
grounds  of  moral  and  spiritual  values.  After 
all,  these  are  the  values  for  which  youth  fought 
in  the  Great  War,  as  it  has  fought  for  them  in 
all  times  of  crisis.  These  values  it  can  compre¬ 
hend.  It  will  not  willingly  offer  its  strength  and 
its  life  for  the  sordid  values  of  materialism.  But 
it  will  offer  its  all  for  the  enduring  verities  of 
the  Spirit.  And  youth  needs  only  to  be  shown 
that  the  warfare  for  the  preservation  of  these 


CONCLUSION 


179 


spiritual  verities  is  constant  and  as  widespread  as 

and  everywhere  this 
eternal  struggle  is  waged.  Youth  should  be  in 
the  thick  of  it,  and  would  be,  if  the  nature  of 
that  strife  could  only  be  made  compellingly  clear. 

This  then  is  our  task,  a  sacred  task  too,  and 
worthy  of  the  best  we  can  give  it.  We  must  not 
forget  either  that  it  is  youth  that  has  the  greater 
stakes  in  the  ultimate  issue.  And  youth  at  heart 
is  sound.  Nor  will  youth  refuse  us  its  coopera¬ 
tion  and  support.  In  spite  of  the  silly  clamor  of 
those  who  would  have  us  believe  that  modern 
vouth  has  unaccountablv  been  endowed  with 
some  superhuman  sense  which  gives  it  access  to 
all  the  realms  of  wisdom  denied  in  the  past,  and 
renders  it  innocuous  to  moral  poisons,  which, 
from  the  dawn  of  historv,  have  worked  their  ills 
on  humankind,  youth  still  looks  to  those  of  age 
and  experience  to  guide  it  in  ways  that  human 
experience  has  proved  to  be  wise  and  safe.  In 
the  days  to  come,  when  the  responsibilities  of 


the  human  race.  Hourly 


180 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  YOUTH 


manhood  and  womanhood  rest  heavily  upon  its 
shoulders,  youth  will  demand  a  reckoning  from 
its  elders.  And  youth  will  have  no  gratitude  in 
its  heart  for  those  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  their 
own  selfish  pleasures,  have  neglected  the  greater 
and  more  sacred  task  for  the  lack  of  which  the 
solid  satisfactions  that  properly  belong  to  the 
years  of  maturity  must  ever  be  denied. 

Youth  has  still  its  God-given  visions  of  what 
life  can  and  should  be.  Only  as  it  realizes  these 
visions  in  its  later  years  will  it  find  life,  rich,  and 
full,  and  free;  and  experience  teaches  us  only  too 
plainly  that  youth  must  have  the  help  of  its  elders 
if  it  is  to  reach  the  high  goal  that  these  visions 
challenge  it  to  seek.  It  is  our  duty  and  it  is  our 
privilege  as  well  to  face  this  task  and  accept  this 
responsibility.  We  are  not  doing  it  to-day. 


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effective  method  of  checking  up  one's 
successes  and  failures  as  a  Dad 


30  Points  for  Boy  Knowledge  and  Helpful 
Home  Influence 

Maximum  of 

10  points  For  setting  aside  out  of  every  week  adequate 
time  for  participation  in  the  boy’s  work,  play, 
study,  activities  and  interests. 

5  points  For  having  definitely  studied  the  problems 
of  boy  life  and  development. 

5  points  For  providing  definite  place  and  responsibility 
for  the  boy  in  the  life  of  the  home. 


30  Points  for  Care  ol  Mental  Needs  and 
Development  of  the  Boy 

5  points  For  providing  a  definite  program  of  mental 
activity  adequate  for  your  boy  (OUTSIDE  of 
his  regular  school  work). 

5  points  For  personally  carrying  out  a  plan,  in  a  thor¬ 
oughly  adequate  manner,  covering  the  matter 
of  sex  education. 

5  points  For  providing  simple  shop,  tools,  necessary 
books  and  other  simple  equipment  necessary 
to  stimulate  broad  mental  development. 

5  points  For  arranging  definite  study  time  with  the 
boy  on  suitable  subjects. 

©  W.  A.  WILDE  CO. 


20  Points  lor  Care  of  tlie  Physical  Needs 
and  Development  of  the  Boy 


5  points 
5  points 
5  points 
5  points 

5  points 
5  points 

5  points 
5  points 


5  points 
5  points 
5  points 
5  points 

W.  A 


For  providing  a  definite  program  of  physical 
activity  adequate  for  your  boy. 

For  having  a  specific  plan  in  operation  for  the 
establishment  of  fundamental  health  habits. 

For  an  annual  physical  examination,  includ¬ 
ing  eyes  and  teeth. 

For  personal  participation  with  the  boy  in 
outdoor  sports  and  games. 

20  Points  for  Care  of  Spiritnal  Needs  and 
Development  of  the  Boy 

For  providing  a  definite  plan  of  spiritual  ac¬ 
tivity  and  interest  adequate  for  your  boy. 

For  encouraging,  making  possible,  and  par¬ 
ticipating  WITH  the  boy  in  some  definite 
service  to  others. 

For  the  regular  conduct  of  any  definite  form 
of  home  worship  and  religious  training. 

For,  with  reasonable  iegularity,  personally  ac¬ 
companying  the  boy  to  some  form  of  public 
worship. 

20  Points  for  Care  of  Social  Needs  and  De- 
velopment  of  the  Boy 

For  providing  a  definite  plan  of  social  activity 
adequate  for  your  boy. 

For  success  in  making  your  home  gang-head¬ 
quarters. 

For  a  definite  plan  of  home  training  in  thrift 
and  money  matters. 

For  a  personal  relationship  to  a  gang  of  boys 
of  which  YOUR  boy  is  a  member. 

Total  Credits . 

.  WILDE  COMPANY,  Publishers 


©  W.  A.  WILDE  CO. 


» 


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